[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 229 (Friday, November 28, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63411-63412]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-31244]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Highway Administration
[FHWA Docket No. FHWA-97-2907]
Outdoor Advertising Control
AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Nevada Department of Transportation (NVDOT) proposes to
amend the Highway Beautification Federal/State Agreement dated January
21, 1972, between the United States of America represented by the
Secretary of Transportation and the State of Nevada.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 29, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Submit written, signed comments to FHWA Docket FHWA-97-2907,
the Docket Clerk, U.S. DOT Docket Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, SW.,
Washington, D.C. 20590. All comments received will be available for
examination at the above address between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.,
e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Those desiring
notification of receipt of comments must include a self-addressed,
stamped envelope/postcard.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Robert A. Johnson, Chief, Program
Services Division, Office of Real Estate Services, HRE-20, (202) 366-
2020; or Mr. Robert Black, Office of Chief Counsel, HCC-31, (202) 366-
1359, Federal Highway Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW.,
Washington, D.C. 20590. Office hours are from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.,
e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Highway Beautification Act of 1965
(HBA), codified at 23 U.S.C. Sec. 131, requires States to provide
effective control of outdoor advertising in the areas adjacent to both
the Interstate System and Federal-aid primary system. States must
provide effective control as a condition of receiving their full
apportionment of Federal-aid Highway Funds. Effective control of
outdoor advertising includes prohibiting the erection of new
advertising signs except for certain categories of signs listed at
Sec. 131(c).
One of these sign categories, ``off premise'' signs, may be allowed
by a State in zoned or unzoned commercial or industrial areas. Signs in
such areas must conform to the requirements of an agreement between the
State and the Federal Government which establishes size, lighting, and
spacing criteria consistent with customary use. The agreement between
Nevada and the FHWA was executed January 21, 1972.
The 1972 agreement states that the State of Nevada may permit signs
to be erected no closer than 500 feet from an intersection outside
``incorporated villages and cities.'' The amendment to the agreement,
the exact language of which is set forth below, would use the term
``urbanized area boundaries'' as defined by 23 U.S.C. Sec. 101(a) in
place of ``incorporated villages and cities.''
In April 1980 the FHWA adopted a procedure to be followed if a
State requested a change in the Federal/State agreement. A State must
first submit its proposed change, along with the reasons for the change
and the effects of such change, to the FHWA Division Office. The
Division, Region, and headquarters offices all review and comment on
the proposal. If the concept is approved, the State must then hold
public hearings on the proposed change to receive comments from the
public. If the State then wishes to amend the agreement, it must
submit: (1) the justification for the change; (2) the record of the
hearings; and (3) an assessment of the impact. These are summarized and
published in the Federal Register for comments. Comments on the
proposed amended agreement will then be evaluated by the FHWA. The FHWA
will then decide if the agreement should be amended as proposed and
will publish its decision in the Federal Register. An amended agreement
will then be sent to the State for signature.
Nevada has completed the above procedure up to the point of
publishing in the Federal Register. No negative comments were received
in response to the State's public hearings on this proposed change, and
several supportive comments were received. Nevada's formal request
provides justification for the proposed revision to the 1972 Federal/
State Agreement. The primary issue is that the term ``urbanized area
boundaries'' would be more consistent with the Code of Federal
Regulations (23 CFR 750, Subpart G) which speaks primarily of urban
areas, rather than incorporated cities, towns, or villages. The change
in the agreement is aimed primarily at effective control of billboards
in Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada, where a vast part of the
metropolitan area is outside the incorporated city limits of Las Vegas.
The State of Nevada believes that this change in the agreement could
allow between 20 and 24 new billboard sites primarily in the Las Vegas
area. The State maintains that this would result in minimal aesthetic
impact because the urban areas are generally developed and contain
numerous on-premise signs.
The Proposed Change
The Federal/State Agreement ``For Carrying Out the National Policy
Relative to Control of Outdoor Advertising in Areas Adjacent to the
National System of Interstate and Defense Highways and the Federal-Aid
Primary System'' made and entered on January 21, 1972, between the
United States of America represented by the Secretary of Transportation
acting by and through the Federal Highway
[[Page 63412]]
Administrator and the State of Nevada now reads at Section III: STATE
CONTROL, Paragraph 2. b. Spacing of Signs, as follows: ``Outside of
incorporated villages and cities, no structure may be located adjacent
to or within 500 feet of an interchange, intersection at grade, or
safety rest area. Said 500 feet to be measured along the Interstate or
freeway from the beginning or ending of pavement widening at the exit
from or entrance to the main-traveled way.''
The amended agreement would read as follows: ``Outside of urbanized
area boundaries, as defined by 23 U.S.C. 101(a), no structure may be
located adjacent to or within 500 feet of an interchange, intersection
at grade, or safety rest area. Said 500 feet to be measured along the
Interstate or freeway from the beginning or ending of pavement widening
at the exit from or entrance to the main-traveled way.''
Authority: 23 U.S.C. 315; 49 CFR 1.48.
Issued on: November 19, 1997.
Kenneth R. Wykle,
Federal Highway Administrator.
[FR Doc. 97-31244 Filed 11-26-97; 8:45 am]
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