An Act to provide for scenic development and road beautification of the Federal aid highway systems
PL 89-285 (S.2084), enacted 10/22/1965

1028 
PUBLIC LAW 89-285-OCT. 22, 1965 
[79 STAT. 
Public Law 89-285 
October 22, 1965 
A N 
A C T 
—i 
To provide for scenic development and road beautification of the Federal-aid 
highway systems. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
Highway Beauti- United States of America in Congress 
assembled, 
fication Act of 
J 
a 
^ 
TITLE I 
1965. 
72 Stat. 904. 
QEC. iQi. Scctioii 131 of title 23, United States Code, is revised to 
read as follows: 
*
*
§ 131. Control of outdoor advertising 
"(a) The Congress hereby finds and declares that the erection and 
maintenance of outdoor advertising signs, displays, and devices in 
areas adjacent to the Interstate System and the primary system should 
be controlled in order to protect the public investment in such high-
ways, to promote the safety and recreational value of public travel, 
and to preserve natural beauty. 
"(b) Federal-aid highway funds apportioned on or after January 1, 
1968, to any State which the Secretary determines has not made 
provision for effective control of the erection and maintenance along 
the Interstate System and the primary system of outdoor advertising 
signs, displays, and devices which are within six hundred and sixty 
feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way and visible from the main 
traveled way of the system, shall oe reduced by amounts equal to 10 per 
centum of the amounts which would otherwise be apportioned to such 
72 Stat. 889. 
State uuder section 104 of this title, until such time as such State shall 
provide for such effective control. Any a.mount which is withheld 
from apportionment to any State hereunder shall be reapportioned to 
the other States. 
Whenever he determines it to be m the public 
interest, the Secretary may suspend, for such periods as he deems 
necessary, the application of this subsection to a State. 
" (c) Effective control means that after January 1,1968, such signs, 
displays, and devices shall, pursuant to this section, be limited to 
(1) directional and other official signs and notices, which signs and 
notices shall include, but not be limited to, signs and notices pertaining 
to natural wonders, scenic and historical attractions, which are required 
or authorized by law, which shall conform to national standards hereby 
authorized to be promulgated by the Secretary hereunder, which 
standards shall contain provisions concerning the lighting, size, num-
ber, and spacing of signs, and such other requirements as may be 
appropriate to implement this section, (2) signs, displays, and devices 
advertising the sale or lease of property upon which they are located, 
and (3) signs, displays, and devices advertising activities conducted 
on the property on which they are located. 
"(d) In order to promote the reasonable, orderly and effective dis-
play of outdoor advertising while remaining consistent with the pur-
poses of this section, signs, displays, and devices whose size, lighting 
and spacing, consistent with customary use is to be determined by 
agreement between the several States and the Secretary, may be 
erected and maintained within six hundred and sixty feet of the 
nearest edge of the right-of-way within areas adjacent to the Inter-
state and primary systems which are zoned industrial or commercial 
under authority of State law, or in unzoned commercial or industrial 
areas as may be determined by agreement between the several States 
and the Secretary. The States shall have full authority under their 
own zoning laws to zone areas for commercial or industrial purposes, 
and the actions of the States in this regard will be accepted for the 
79 
STAT.] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-285-OCT. 22, 1965 
1029 
purposes of this Act. Nothing in this subsection shall apply to signs, 
displays, and devices referred to in clauses (2) and (3) of subsection 
(c) of this section. 
"(e) Any sign, display, or device lawfully in existence along the 
Interstate System or the Federal-aid primary system on September 1, 
1965, which does not conform to this section shall not be required to be 
removed until July 1, 1970. Any other sign, display, or device law-
fully erected which does not conform to this section shall not be 
required to be removed until the end of the fifth year after it becomes 
nonconforming. 
"(f) The Secretary shall, in consultation with the States, provide 
within the rights-of-way for areas at appropriate distances from inter-
changes on the Interstate System, on which signs, displays, and devices 
giving specific information in the interest of the traveling public may 
be erected and maintained. 
Such signs shall conform to national 
standards to be promulgated by the Secretary. 
"(g) Just compensation shall be paid upon the removal of the fol-
lowing outdoor advertising signs, displays, and devices— 
"(1) those lawfully in existence on the date of enactment of 
this subsection, 
"(2) those lawfully on any highway made a part of the inter-
state or primary system on or after the date of enactment of this 
subsection and before January 1, 1968, and 
"(3) those lawfully erected on or after January 1,1968. 
The Federal share of such compensation shall be 75 per centum. Such 
compensation shall be paid for the following: 
"(A) The taking from the owner of such sign, display, or 
device of all right, title, leasehold, and interest in such sign, dis-
play, or device; and 
"(B) The taking from the owner of the real property on which 
the sign, display, or device is located, of the right to erect and 
maintain such signs, displays, and devices thereon. 
"(h) All public lands or reservations of the United States which 
are adjacent to any portion of the Interstate System and the primary 
system shall be controlled in accordance with the provisions of this 
section and the national standards promulgated by the Secretary. 
"(i) In order to provide information in the specific interest of the 
traveling public, the State highway departments are authorized to 
maintain maps and to permit informational directories and advertising 
pamphlets to be made available at safety rest areas. Subject to the 
approval of the Secretary, a State may also establish information cen-
ters at safety rest areas for the purpose of informing the public 
of places of interest within the State and providing such other 
information as a State may consider desirable. 
"(j) Any State highway department which has, under this section 
as in effect on June 30,1965, entered into an agreement with the Secre-
tary to control the erection and maintenance of outdoor advertising 
signs, displays, and devices in areas adjacent to the Interstate System 
shall be entitled to receive the bonus payments as set forth in the 
agreement, but no such State highway department shall be entitled 
to such payments unless the State maintains the control required under 
such agreement or the control required by this section, whichever con-
trol is stricter. 
Such payments shall be paid only from appropriations 
made to carry out this section. 
The provisions of this subsection shall 
not be construed to exempt any State from controlling outdoor adver-
tising as otherwise provided in this section. 
" (k) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a State from establish-
ing standards imposing stricter limitations with respect to signs, dis-
plays, and devices on the Federal-aid highway systems than those 
established under this section. 
Information 
centers. 
Bonus payments. 
1030 
PUBLIC LAW 89-285-OCT. 22, 1965 
[79 STAT. 
Notice of final 
determination. 
62 Stat, 92 8. 
Appropriation. 
70 Stat. 397. 
23 u s e 120 note. 
"(1) Not less than sixty days before making a final determination 
to withhold funds from a State mider subsection (b) of this section, 
or to do so under subsection (b) of section 136, or with respect to 
failing to agree as to the size, lighting, and spacing of signs, displays, 
and devices or as to unzoned commercial or industrial areas in which 
signs, displays, and devices may be erected and maintained under 
subsection (d) of this section, or with respect to failure to approve 
under subsection (g) of section 136, the Secretary shall give written 
notice to the State of his proposed determination and a statement of 
the reasons therefor, and during such period shall give the State an 
opportunity for a hearing on such determination. 
Following such 
hearing the Secretary shall issue a written order setting forth his 
final determination and shall furnish a copy of such order to the 
State. Within forty-five days of receipt of such order, the State 
may appeal such order to any United States district court for such 
State, and upon the filing of such appeal such order shall be stayed 
until final judgment has been entered on such appeal. 
Summons 
may be served at any place in the United States. The court shall 
have jurisdiction to affirm the detennination of the Secretary or to 
set it aside, in whole or in part. 
The judgment of the court shall 
be subject to review by the United States court of appeals for the 
circuit in which the State is located and to the Supreme Court of the 
United States upon certiorari or certification as provided in title 28, 
United States Code, section 1254. If any part of an apportionment 
to a State is withheld by the Secretary under subsection (b) of this 
section or subsection (b) of section 136, the amount so withheld shall 
not be reapportioned to the other States as long as a suit brought by 
such State under this subsection is pending. 
Such amount shall 
remain available for apportionment in accordance with the final judg-
ment and this subsection. 
Funds withheld from apportionment and 
subsequently apportioned or reapportioned under this section shall be 
available for expenditure for three full fiscal years after the date of 
STich apportionment or reapportionment as the case may be. 
"(m) There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out the pro-
visions of this section, out of any money in the Treasury not other-
wise appropriated, not to exceed $20,000,000 for the fiscal year ending 
June 30,1966, and not to exceed $20,000,000 for the fiscal year ending 
June 30,1967. No part of the Highway Trust Fund shall be available 
to carry out this section." 
SEC. 102. The table of sections of chapter 1 of title 23 of the United 
States Code is amended by ^riking out 
"131. Areas adjacent to the Interstate System." 
and inserting in lieu thereof 
"131. Control of outdoor advertising." 
TITLE I I 
23 u s e 101 et 
seq. 
Apportioned 
funds, withhold-
ing. 
SEC. 201. Chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, is amended to 
add at the end thereof the following new section: 
"§ 136. Control of junkyards 
"(a) The Congress hereby finds and declares that the establishment 
and use and maintenance of junkyards in areas adjacent to the Inter-
state System and the primary system should be controlled in order to 
protect the public investment in such highways, to promote the safety 
and recreational value of public travel, and to preserve natural beauty. 
" (b) Federal-aid highway funds apportioned on or after January 1, 
1968, to any State which the Secretary determines has not made pro-
79 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-285-OCT. 22, 1965 
1031 
vision for effective control of the establishment and maintenance along 
the Interstate System and the primary system of outdoor junkyards, 
which are within one thousand feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-
way and visible from the main traveled way of the system, shall be 
reduced by amounts equal to 10 per centum of the amounts which 
would otherwise be apportioned to such State under section 104 of 
this title, until such time as such State shall provide for such effective 
control. Any amount which is withheld from apportionment to any 
State hereunder shall be reapportioned to the other States. When-
ever he deftermines it to be in the public interest, the Secretary may 
suspend, for such periods as he deems necessary, the application of 
this subsection to a State. 
"(c) Effective control means that by January 1, 1968, such junk-
yards shall be screened by natural objects, plantings, fences, or other 
appropriate means so as not to be visible from the main traveled way of 
the system, or shall be removed from sight. 
"(d) The term 'junk' shall mean old or scrap copper, brass, rope, 
rags, batteries, paper, trash, rubber debris, waste, or junked, dis-
mantled, or wrecked automobiles, or parts thereof, iron, steel, and other 
old or scrap ferrous or nonferrous material. 
"(e) The term 'automobile graveyard' shall mean any establish-
ment or place of business which is maintained, used, or operated for 
storing, keeping, buying, or selling wrecked, scrapped, ruined, or dis-
mantled motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts. 
"(f) The term 'junkyard' shall mean an establishment or place of 
business which is maintained, operated, or used for storing, keeping, 
buying, or selling junk, or for the maintenance or operation of an 
automobile graveyard, and the term shall include garbage dumps and 
sanitary fills. 
" (g) Notwithstanding any provision of this section, junkyards, auto 
graveyards, and scrap metal processing facilities may be operated 
within areas adjacent to the Interstate System and the primary system 
which are within one thousand feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-
way and which are zoned industrial under authority of State law, or 
which are not zoned under authority of State law, but are used for 
industrial activities, as determined by the several States subject to 
approval by the Secretary. 
''(h) Notwithstanding any provision of this section, any junkyard 
in existence on the date of enactment of this section which does not 
conform to the requirements of this section and which the Secretary 
finds as a practical matter cannot be screened, shall not be required to 
be removed until July 1,1970. 
"(i) The Federal share of landscaping and screening costs under 
this section shall be 75 per centum. 
"(j) Just compensation shall be paid the owner for the relocation, 
removal, or disposal of the following junkyards— 
" (1) those lawfully in existence on the date of enactment of this 
subsection, 
"(2) those lawfully along any highway made a part of the 
interstate or primary system on or after the enactment of this 
subsection and before January 1,1968, and 
"(3) those lawfully established on or after January 1, 1968. 
The Federal share of such compensation shall be 75 per centum. 
"(k) All public lands or reservations of the United States which 
are adjacent to any portion of the interstate and primary systems 
shall be effectively controlled in accordance with the provisions of 
this section. 
" (1) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a State from establishing 
standards imposing stricter limitations with respect to outdoor junk-
Reapportion-
ment of withheld 
funds. 
Definitions. 
Landscaping and 
screening costs. 
Junkyards. 
Costs of reloca-
tion, etc. 
1032 
PUBLIC LAW 89-285-OCT. 22, 1965 
[79 STAT. 
Appropriation. 
70 Stat. 397. 
23 u s e 120 note. 
yards on the Federal-aid highway systems than those established 
under this section. 
" (m) There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec-
tion, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 
not to exceed $20,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1966, 
and not to exceed $20,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30,1967. 
No part of the Highway Trust Fund shall be available to carry out 
this section." 
SEO. 202. The table of sections of chapter 1, title 23, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following: 
"136. Control of junkyards." 
TITLE III 
72 Stat. 917. 
Appropriation. 
Estimate and 
study. 
SEC. 301. (a) Section 319 of title 23, United States Code, is revised 
to read as follows: 
"§ 319. Landscaping and scenic enhancement 
"(a) The Secretary may approve as a part of the construction of 
Federal-aid highways the costs of landscape and roadside develop-
ment, including acquisition and development of publicly owned and 
controlled rest and recreation areas and sanitary and other facilities 
reasonably necessary to accommodate the traveling public. 
"(b) An amount equivalent to 3 per centum of the funds appor-
tioned to a State for Federal-aid highways for any fiscal year shall be 
allocated to that State out of funds appropriated under authority of 
this subsection, which shall be used for landscape and roadside develop-
ment within the highway right-of-way and for acquisition of interests 
in and improvement of strips of land necessary for the restoration, 
preservation, and enhancement of scenic beauty adjacent to such 
highways, including acquisition and development of publicly owned 
and controlled rest and recreation areas and sanitary and other facili-
ties within or adjacent to the highway right-of-way reasonably neces-
sary to accommodate the traveling public, without being matched by 
the State. The Secretary may authorize exceptions from this require-
ment, upon application of a State and upon a showing that such amount 
is in excess of the needs of the State for these purposes. Any funds 
not used as required by this subsection shall lapse. There is author-
ized to be appropriated to carry out this subsection, out of any money 
in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, not to exceed $120,000,000 
for the fiscal year ending June 30,1966, and not to exceed $120,000,000 
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1967. No part of the Highway 
Trust Fund shall be available to carrj'^ out this subsection." 
(b) The table of sections of chapter 3 of title 23 of the United 
States Code is amended by striking out 
"319. Landscaping." 
and inserting in lieu thereof 
"819. Landscaping and scenic enhancement." 
SEC. 302. In order to provide the basis for evaluating the continuing 
programs authorized by this Act, and to furnish the Congress with the 
information necessary for authorization of appropriations for fiscal 
years beginning after June 30,1967, the Secretary, in cooperation with 
the State highway departments, shall make a detailed estimate of the 
cost of carrying out the provisions of this Act, and a comprehensive 
study of the economic impact of such programs on affected individuals 
and commercial and industrial enterprises, the effectiveness of such 
programs and the public and private benefits realized thereby, and 
alternate or improved methods of accomplishing the objectives of this 
79 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-285-OCT. 22, 1965 
1033 
Act. The Secretary shall submit such detailed estimate and a report 
concerning such comprehensive study to the Congress not later than 
January 10,1967. 
SEC. 303. (a) Before the promulgation of standards, criteria, and 
rules and regulations, necessary to carry out sections 131 and 136 of title 
23 of the United States Code, the Secretary of Commerce shall hold 
public hearings in each State for the purpose ^i gathering all relevant 
information on which to base such standards, criteria, and rules and 
regulations. 
(b) The Secretary of Commerce shall report to Congress, not later 
than January 10, 1967, all standards, criteria, and rules and regula-
tions to be applied in carrying out sections 131 and 136 of title 23 of 
the United States Code. 
SEC. 304, There is authorized to be appropriated the sum of $500,000 
to enable the Secretary of Commerce to carry out his functions under 
section 135 of title 23 of the United States Code relating to highway 
safety programs. 
SEC. 305. Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act 
shall be construed to authorize the use of eminent domain to acquire 
any dwelling (including related buildings). 
regu-
1028, 
Report to 
Congress. 
Rules and 
lations. 
Ante, 
pp. 
1030. 
Report to 
Congress. 
Appropriation. 
Ante, 
p. 578. 
T I T L E IV 
SEC. 401. Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act 
shall be construed to authorize private property to be taken or the 
reasonable and existing use restricted by such taking without just 
compensation as provided in this Act. 
SEC. 402. In addition to any other amounts authorized by this Act 
and the amendments made by this Act, there is authorized to be appro-
priated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 
to the Secretary of Commerce not to exceed $5,000,000 for adminis-
trative expenses in carrying out this Act (including amendments 
made by this Act). 
SEC. 403. This Act may be cited as the "Highway Beautification Act 
of 1965". 
Approved October 22, 1965, 2:30 p.m. 
Appropriation. 
Short title. 
49-850 0-66—68