No new billboards!

[Veloise]

http://michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-23442-158208--,00.html

[snoogit]

Yay!!!

I kind of wish that there was a total hard cap (meaning one goes up, one has to come down kind of thing)

[GR8scott]

michigan doesn't have a lot of billboards compared to other states anyways, just look at Indiana or Gorgia but we are right next to Canada which has practically none

[dtown]

Cool, im tired of looking at rust old billboards. Hopefully this will bring about better maintained billboards, along with no new construction.

[RustTown]

I guess I'm in the minority, here, but I actually like billboards when placed in urban areas as they add another texture to the area. The ones on top of buildings are really interesting, in particular. But, yeah, the roadside ones in rural areas along freeways can get really bad. The worst example I've ever seen was going to Pahrump, NV from Las Vegas. Right before you enter Pahrump there are billboards evenly placed for a long stretch of the highway. I wish I had a picture.

[dtown]

The worst billboard ive ever seen is on corunna road in Flint. This old building, which houses a go cart/motercycle/atv shop, has a huge steel frame surrounding the whole building, with the billboard on the roof. Its pretty bad looking.

[wolverine]

^ Oh I love that building, it reminds me of Brooklyn.

Really though, they aren't too bad. In fact, I've used them to help keep me awake when I'm driving late at night. I'll read them, because it prevents me from getting tunnel vision.

I think billboards across the state are pretty well maintained, and it's not like these things directly affect residents unless these people live right up along the freeway.

In the meantime, I'm seeing a sweeping number of billboards switching over to electronic LED boards (like jumbotrons). Saginaw now has 4.

[dtown]

^ i saw those on the news, they can play videos, right?

[wolverine]

I think only the one on top of the Chamber of Commerce building. (That seven story grayish building near the elevated portion of I-675)

[dtown]

Are they all on 675?

If so, its too bad. Id like to see them, but i never have to go out that way. I dont think ive actually ever been on 675.

[wolverine]

3 on I-675, one at the I-75/675 interchange after Holland road (if you are heading north).

Psssh, you just enjoy going over the Zilwaukee bridge. Enjoy it until it closes in 2011.

[dtown]

Whaaat?!!!!

[wolverine]

The Zilwaukee Bridge will close for two years in 2011 while portions of the bridge are reconstructed, including the 1.3 mile deck.

[dtown]

Oh. You had me worried there for a while. I thought you mean they were going to just tear it down or something. lol.

Man, that constructions gonna suck though! Oh well, i guess that gives me an excuse to finally use 675.

[wolverine]

I wish they'd tear down and build a new one. That bridge is nothing but never ending problems.

[dtown]

A big ol' cable stayed across the Saginaw river would be awesome.

[Ka3kab]

Maybe you guys remember, maybe you don't, but I hate that bridge. It's closing will force me through Saginaw and I won't have to listen to anyone in my car beotch about it.

[wolverine]

Looks like the existing Zilwaukee bridge will be around for many years to come.

I hate cable stay bridges now. They seem so ubiquious. They aren't like suspension bridges or steel arches that carry VARIETY and beauty in form. Cable stays always look the same city to city, and the deck forms and designs are ugly as hell. Just look at the one in Toledo, there's nothing glamorous about it unless you are 1000 feet away. I thought I was a minority on this issue, but apparently they are hated throughout the architecture world as well.

[NorthCoast]

Good riddance.

Billboards are unsightly. I don't disagree with the concept of a billboard in terms of the free market and what not but I just wish there was a way for them to be done in a classy manner. Unfortunately, that would cost a lot of extra money to make them artistic so I suppose a full out ban on them is the second best option.

[wolverine]

To tell you the truth, the one thing I'd love to see a ban on is super tall signs for gas stations and restaurants. I know many communities have taken a stand on this now. The ground signs looks so much better because the businesses put more effort into decorative brickwork and landscaping around them.

[dtown]

I definitly agree about those tall signs. They are unsightly. I like those nice digital ground signs with landscaping around it at gas stations.

[NorthCoast]

Though I don't like the tall pole signs, they aren't going anywhere anytime soon. If the state tried to ban them you can bet that every single franchise restaurant, gas station, truck stop would line their lawyers up on the capital's stoop.

[wolverine]

Yeah. I guess the authority on that comes down to the municipal level, although most businesses are pretty cooperative. I actually find the lower signs easier to find. And in some instances they might even be safer in that you don't have to look up (away from the road) while you are driving. The only exception should be strip malls where you need some height to fit all the names on it.