Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 72 Part 1.djvu/135

 72 S T A T. ]

PUBLIC LAW 85-38 1 - A P R. 16, 1958

expended on the project: Provided, That Federal funds shall not be reimbursed to any State under this section when the payment to the utility violates the law of the State or violates a legal contract between the utility and the State: Provided further, That such reimbursement shall be made only after evidence satisfactory to the Secretary shall have been presented to him substantiating the fact that the State h ^ paid such cost from its own funds with respect to Federal-aid highway projects for which Federal funds are obligated subsequent to the date of enactment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1958 for work, including relocation of utility facilities." SEC. 12. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 (70 Stat. 374) is amended by renumbering section 122 as section 123 and inserting a new section 122, as follows: -SEC. 122. AREAS ADJACENT TO THE INTERSTATE SYSTEM. " (a) NATIONAL POLICY.—To promote the safety, convenience, and enjoyment of public travel and the free flow of interstate commerce and to protect the public investment in the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, it is hereby declared to be in the public interest to encourage and assist the States to control the use of and to improve areas adjacent to the Interstate System by controlling the erection and maintenance of outdoor advertising signs, displays, and devices adjacent to that system. I t is hereby declared to be a national policy that the erection and maintenance of outdoor advertising signs, displays, or devices within six hundred and sixty feet of the edge of the right-of-way and visible from the main-traveled way of all portions of the Interstate System constructed upon any part of right-of-way, the entire width of which is acquired subsequent to July 1, 1956, should be regulated, consistent with national standards to be prepared and promulgated by the Secretary, which shall include only the following four types of signs, and no signs advertising illegal activities: " (1) Directional or other official signs or notices that are required or authorized by law. "(2) Signs advertising the sale or lease of the property upon which they are located. (3) Signs erected or maintained pursuant to authorization or permitted under State law, and not inconsistent with the national policy and standards of this section, advertising activities being conducted at a location within twelve miles of the point at which such signs are located. " (4) Signs erected or maintained pursuant to authorization in State law and not inconsistent with the national policy and standards of this section, and designed to give information in the specific interest of the traveling public. "(b) AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to enter into agreements with State highway departments (including such supplementary agreements as may be necessary) to carry out the national policy set forth in subsection (a) of this section with respect to the Interstate System within the State. Any such agreement shall include provisions for regulation and control of the erection and maintenance of advertising signs, displays, and other advertising devices in conformity with the standards established in accordance with subsection (a) and may include, among other things, provisions for preservation of natural beauty, prevention of erosion, landscaping, reforestation, development of viewpoints for scenic attractions that are accessible to the public without charge, and the erection of markers, signs, or plaques, and development of areas in appreciation of sites of historical significance. Upon application of the State, any such agreement may, within the discretion of the Secretary of Commerce, consistent with the national policy, provide for excluding from application of the national standards segments

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23 USC 172.

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