Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Bogabam Here. If you've ever driven on
Speaker 1: an American highway, you know them. The big blue signs
Speaker 1: near interstate exits showing travelers the nearest gas, food, and
Speaker 1: hotel or motel options. They're officially called interstate logo signs
Speaker 1: or specific service signs, but the place is featured aren't random.
Speaker 1: A Scoring a spot on these signs boosts profits for
Speaker 1: many companies and for the states to control them. As
Speaker 1: of twenty nineteen, Tennessee napped about eight million dollars per
Speaker 1: year and Virginia got about six million thanks to the signs.
Speaker 1: For the article, this episode is based on How's to Work.
Speaker 1: Spoke by email with Jenny Campana, spokesperson for the Nebraska
Speaker 1: Department of Transportation. She said, all highway signs serve as
Speaker 1: specific purpose and their color is how you can easily
Speaker 1: tell what the signs purposes, direction information regulations, et cetera.
Speaker 1: These signs, in particular, are blue or informational signs are
Speaker 1: regardless of what state you drive through. If you see
Speaker 1: a blue sign, it's going to provide helpful information to
Speaker 1: motorists as they travel along their way. There are three
Speaker 1: basic types of blue logo signs. First, mainline, which is
Speaker 1: the first one you see. It lets you know certain
Speaker 1: services are nearby. These are bigger than you might have thought,
Speaker 1: typically about nineteen feet that's six ms wide by about
Speaker 1: ten ft or three ms high. The second type of
Speaker 1: blue sign is the ramp. This is closer to the
Speaker 1: exit and indicates whether you turn right or left at
Speaker 1: the end of the off ramp. Businesses that are clearly
Speaker 1: visible from the exit might not qualify for a ramp sign.
Speaker 1: And finally, there's the trailblazer. This last and smallest sign
Speaker 1: is placed at each corner where drivers should turn in
Speaker 1: order to reach the business. Only certain types of businesses
Speaker 1: can advertise on the logo sign lines gas stations, restaurants, lodging,
Speaker 1: and attractions. Houst Works also spoke with Mark Nagy, a
Speaker 1: spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Transportation. He said the
Speaker 1: attraction category was added later for tourist attractions. In general,
Speaker 1: the businesses need to be within five miles or eight
Speaker 1: kilometers of a freeway exit, except attractions can be within
Speaker 1: fifteen miles or twenty four kilometers, and they have to
Speaker 1: be open to the general public during normal business hours.
Speaker 1: Each state sets its own criteria, but usually the businesses
Speaker 1: listed must have public restrooms, drinking water, and public phones.
Speaker 1: Those that are open around the clock sometimes get priority
Speaker 1: over those that are open for fewer hours of the day,
Speaker 1: and distance from the highway may count in some states too.
Speaker 1: In Florida, for instance, priority is given to businesses less
Speaker 1: than three miles that's five kilometers from the exit, though
Speaker 1: those up to six miles about nine and a half
Speaker 1: kilometers from the exit are eligible for inclusion. Attractions like museums, wineries,
Speaker 1: aggri tourism sites, and zoos are eligible for sign placement too,
Speaker 1: but not churches, movie theaters, and adult oriented entertainment venues.
Speaker 1: Applying to be featured is easy these days, you just
Speaker 1: fill out a form online, but now being a spot
Speaker 1: is another story. Some businesses wait for years to get
Speaker 1: a spot. In some urban locations. House to Works also
Speaker 1: spoke with Tracy Bramble, an information specialist for the Iowa
Speaker 1: Department of Transportation. She said in the urban areas, it
Speaker 1: can be difficult to secure a spot on the blue
Speaker 1: motorist service signs or logo signs because they often fill
Speaker 1: up to capacity. There's a limit of six spots on
Speaker 1: the signs. She adds that all signs have to be
Speaker 1: spaced at least eight hundred feet that's about two apart,
Speaker 1: and must be placed directly in advance of the interchange
Speaker 1: where the business can be accessed. Green and white guide signs,
Speaker 1: that is for cities, highways, and major destinations of interest,
Speaker 1: have a higher priority classification, So where interchanges are des
Speaker 1: signed closely together, there may not be enough room to
Speaker 1: install the blue logo sign and still maintain the spacing required,
Speaker 1: and even if space is available, it can be pricey.
Speaker 1: In Nebraska, for example, it's a thousand, two hundred dollars
Speaker 1: per year per sign, so if you want to cover
Speaker 1: exits in both directions, it would cost you two thousand,
Speaker 1: four hundred per year. In Tennessee, the prices around nine
Speaker 1: hundred dollars in urban areas and six fifty in rural
Speaker 1: locations per direction. New Jersey, meanwhile, can be as high
Speaker 1: as two thousand, four hundred in each direction. If you're
Speaker 1: a nonprofit organization, you'll receive a discounted rate. In some states,
Speaker 1: but in some rural areas, the blue signs often feature
Speaker 1: plenty of open spaces, causing drastic price declines. In Iowa,
Speaker 1: you can snag spots for as little as two hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty dollars in the right areas, according to Bramble.
Speaker 1: She explained in Iowa, the fees charged are not commingled
Speaker 1: with other road user fees, but are earmarked specifically for
Speaker 1: outdoor advertising control purposes, including the administration of the logo
Speaker 1: signing program. Some states hire private contractors to run the program,
Speaker 1: who are then allowed to set their own price structures.
Speaker 1: Iowa has reinstated its state run program and has avoided
Speaker 1: raising fees since. The biggest private contractor in the business
Speaker 1: is a company called Interstate Logos, which handles the fabrication
Speaker 1: and installation process for over twenty states around the country.
Speaker 1: It makes most of its money from the sign permits,
Speaker 1: but it also actively markets any unfilled spaces in hopes
Speaker 1: of filling any blank spots on those big blue signs.
Speaker 1: Naggie says that the Tennessee Department of Transportation gets of
Speaker 1: the gross revenue from the contractor it uses. Prices for
Speaker 1: businesses can and do change once a contractor takes over.
Speaker 1: In New Hampshire, for instance, the annual fee rocketed from
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars to one eight hundred dollars per sign,
Speaker 1: drawing ire from some businesses. According to a local newspaper,
Speaker 1: States initially began deploying these signs to provide valuable and
Speaker 1: accurate motorst service information for the traveling public decades ago.
Speaker 1: The signs took on even more importance as Americans began
Speaker 1: to decry the overuse of billboards and so dense were
Speaker 1: these unsightly clusters of commercialization. The President Lyndon B. Johnson
Speaker 1: signed the Highway Beautification Act in October of nineteen sixty five,
Speaker 1: which limited billboard and other outdoor advertising. States also took
Speaker 1: it upon themselves to reduce the number of billboards along
Speaker 1: their roadways. Vermont took things even further, banning billboards outright,
Speaker 1: along with Maine, Hawaii, and Alaska. With limited billboard opportunities,
Speaker 1: companies still needed a way to get the word out,
Speaker 1: so states compromised enter the big blue signs. They provide
Speaker 1: smaller businesses a feasible way to market their service at
Speaker 1: a cost much lower than billboards, and thanks to their standardization,
Speaker 1: they're easy to read as your zipping by at speed.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article who does and
Speaker 1: Doesn't get featured on Blue Highway exit Signs on how
Speaker 1: Stuffworks dot Com written by Nathan Chandler. Brainstuffs production of
Speaker 1: I heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com,
Speaker 1: and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts my
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.