A bill under consideration by the legislature, L.D. 1367, would allow billboards along interstates and state highways, reversing the ban on these large signs that has been in place here for 34 years.
The goal of the bill, to establish a fund for Maine’s rural roads, is laudable, as anyone who has dodged potholes along the back roads is well aware. As with any plan to fill a need, this bill sets up revenue sources and one of those would be billboards. The road repairs would also be funded by the fees on vanity plates and fines for traffic infractions.
Improvements to our roads are certainly necessary and it makes sense to charge more for vanity plates and send money from fines into the roads fund. However, adding billboards would alter the character of our roadsides and make Maine look like just about everywhere else.
The fact is, Maine is not New Jersey. Maine is not Massachusetts. People come here because Maine is set apart from those places by its rural character. Even our biggest cities are tiny by comparison to Boston or New York City. Maine is simply not the type of place where people expect to be bombarded by big signs from all sides. It is, instead, a haven for experiencing nature, from skiing to kayaking, from surfing to star gazing. It’s a place where we can simply look out the window at trees and pastures or glimpses of homes and neighborhoods and industries, when we travel the Maine Turnpike or I-95.
Only four other states have bans on billboards: Vermont, Hawaii and Alaska. Like Maine, these are all particularly beautiful places that visitors and residents do not want to experience in between signs.
Proponents of the provision to allow billboards tout the money it would bring in and also note that it would not allow billboards to proliferate out of control. As written, the bill says that rules would be put in place to govern the location of the billboards, but those are, as yet, unwritten. Once placement of the billboards is approved, it seems unlikely to us that there will be very many locations that would be banned. Money is a powerful motivator and we fear that if this bill is passed, it won’t be long before much of our roadside is covered in big signs.
We should not destroy the legacy of former state representative Marion Fuller Brown of York, who is now in her 90s. Brown had it right when she put forward legislation to keep Maine’s roadsides free of billboards. We agree with her that evergreens, grass, snowbanks and wildlife are all that should be at the side of the road, along with the occasional sign to point travelers in the right direction. Those are advertisement enough for Maine and all of its natural attractions.
People will find local businesses ready to serve them easily enough when they stop at a tourist destination. Roadside signs are already in place for major attractions like Funtown-Splashtown, state parks, and York’s Wild Kingdom, to direct visitors.
In this day and age, advertising is everywhere: In newspapers, magazines, on radio and television and on cars, T-shirts, tote bags, pens, websites, and food packaging. If you can’t get away from it, at least you might have a break from giant advertisements on the side of the road when you come to Vacationland.
If a business wants their name on the side of the highway, they should sponsor a section of it and provide a cleanup crew. That way, their name is before the great masses of traveling cars on a small sign, and they’re improving the image of the state, rather than detracting from it.
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Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via e-mail at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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