Feds Green Light Digital Billboards

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has issued clear guidance authorizing digital billboards, stating in a memo that high-tech signs are not flashing or intermittent.

The memorandum states that digital billboards are not banned by existing federal rules and regulations, and that states should develop acceptable guidelines for their use. The memo gives states the ability to approve guidelines for new billboard technology without running afoul of federal standards.

The highlighted portion of the memo reads: “Proposed laws, regulations, and procedures that would allow permitting CEVMS (commercial electronic variable message signs) subject to acceptable criteria (as described below) do not violate a prohibition against ‘intermittent’ or ‘flashing’ or ‘moving’ lights as those terms are used in the various FSAs (federal-state agreements) that have been entered into during the 1960s and 1970s.”

The four-page memo is signed by Gloria M. Shepherd FHWA associate administrator for planning, environment and realty. This updates a1996 memo which allowed for changeable message billboards.

The document can be viewed at the Outdoor Advertising Assn. of America’s (OAAA) website, www.oaaa.org.

There are 450,000 billboards in the United States, according to the OAAA. An estimated of those 700 are digital.

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