Electronic billboards could light up Texas highways

Aesthetic, economic impacts debated as public comment sought


Billboards along urban stretches of major highways could soon be converted to digital signs that are able to flash vivid new color images every eight seconds.
The Texas Transportation Commission approved proposed rules Thursday that are designed to end Texas' decades-long ban on digital billboards along interstates and other major roads. The signs would still be banned in rural areas.
No final action will be taken until after a 90-day period for public comment. But billboard opponents already have decried the proposal as unsafe, ugly and – given the recent death of Lady Bird Johnson – in poor taste.

In addition, a public hearing will be at 9 a.m. Nov. 28 in Austin.
Mrs. Johnson's efforts as first lady led to the passage of the Highway Beautification Act in 1965. That law, though weakened over the years, requires states to enforce federal laws limiting the number and type of billboards along major highways.
"We've had a wonderful woman die recently in our state and she tried very hard to do something about this problem in 1965," said Margaret Lloyd, policy director for Scenic Texas, a nonprofit group that opposes what it calls the "visual blight" of billboards.
Still, the Texas Transportation Commission voted 4-0 in favor of publishing the new rules at its meeting Thursday. Chairman Ric Williamson argued that the views of the outdoor advertising industry – representing "tax-paying businesses" – should be heard as well.
"The billboard industry appeared before the commission last year and asked us to post rules so the public could be allowed to comment on the issue and see where everybody is," Mr. Williamson said in an interview Wednesday. "We've been thinking about that for almost a year, and we have now decided to let everybody air their positions out."
Commissioner Ned Holmes of Houston abstained.

Source: By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News