Interstate Permits?

Hi guys,
We own a piece of land along the interstate in Louisiana that is vacant and I’ve been looking into putting up a simple wooden structured 10’x36’ billboard to try and create a little side income for myself. I’ve found the construction company that can build it and I’ve spoken to 2 potential customers about advertising there. Now the dilema,… I’ve met with the district D.O.T. manager and he explained the rules to me about how it has to be 800 feet from a business, 1,000 feet from the previous sign, and so forth. However, I’ve seen many billboards along the interstate that are no where close to a business and they are up and running. So my questions is this: Is there any way around building my billboard without getting this permit? What are some of the things that I can look into?

In any rural area in the U.S., you have to have a permit from the Highway Department to build a billboard. There is no way around this. If you build the sign anyway, you will be subject to a fine daily.

The only other option – and you’d have to check the Louisiana laws – is to build the sign over 500’ off the highway so that it is not withint the realm of the U.S. Highway Beautification Act. But you’d have to build an enormous sign to be seen from that far away, and it would never make any economic sense.

That’s just the rules – not much you can do about it.