Television-style billboards coming to WNY roadways
Electronic billboards — whose glowing, TV-like screens beam a new picture every eight seconds — are on their way to busy highways in Western New York.
Starting in March, Lamar Outdoor Advertising plans to replace five of its existing billboards with computer-controlled screens in Buffalo, Hamburg, Niagara Falls and the Town of Tonawanda.
“Digital is the new, state-of-the-art billboard,” Lamar general manager Rick Dvorak said.
The new technology has drawn concern in some communities, while winning applause in others for beaming emergency information to drivers.
Digital signs can quickly replace ads with messages about traffic problems ahead. They can also relay AMBER Alerts about missing children, Dvorak said.
In Minneapolis, a digital billboard alerted drivers about a bridge collapse in 2007 and helped reroute traffic.
“We can react within minutes to get that [emergency] message up,” Dvorak said.
But concerns about distracted driving and neighborhood livability have also surfaced as the electronic signs proliferate, with 1,100 now in use nationwide.
“Many people will linger on the sign to catch the next image,” said Kevin Fry, president of the anti-billboard group Scenic America in Washington, D.C.
Knoxville, Tenn., put a moratorium on the signs last year while it studies how to regulate them.
What seems clear is that the signs will be up and running in Western New York before long. Lamar has received permits to put digital billboards in Buffalo and Niagara Falls, Dvorak said. A permit is pending in Hamburg, and the Town of Tonawanda is crafting its electronic sign law to regulate the new technology, he said.
The electronic billboards are planned for the Kensington Expressway at Bailey Avenue and the Niagara Thruway at Seneca Street in Buffalo; the Youngmann Highway in the Town of Tonawanda west of Colvin Boulevard; Southwestern Boulevard at the Seven Corners intersection in Hamburg; and in Niagara Falls on the I-190 near the Fashion Outlets Mall.
The Town of Tonawanda’s sign law currently prohibits changing messages, Dvorak said, but the company is seeking a change in the law, and other locations appear on track.
“From the information reported to us, it appears that it wouldn’t be a problem,” said Peter Cutler, spokesman for Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown. The screens are widely used in other municipalities, he said, providing the benefit of emergency alerts for drivers.
An existing Lamar sign at Delaware Avenue and Chippewa Street in Buffalo uses the same electronic technology but in a smaller format, Dvorak said. The 12- by-12-foot sign is about one-fifth the size of a common highway billboard.
Electronic signs can carry non-emergency information as well. In Atlanta, for example, LED billboards gave drivers updates on presidential election results earlier this month.
Thirty-nine states have rules in place governing the technology, according to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America.
Though they’re widespread, electronic billboards remain a small fraction of the nation’s 450,000 billboards, the industry says. In some areas, new ads appear every six seconds instead of eight.
The billboard industry avoids using moving images, flashing lights, animation or scrolling text — which some roadside electronic signs do display — to avoid distracting drivers.
Still, driver safety is a hotly debated issue that awaits a definitive answer. The outdoor advertising group cites two studies, both industry-backed, that show no link between digital billboards and accidents. A Federal Highway Administration study is in the works, but results aren’t expected until the end of next year. Meanwhile, state authorities in Virginia, West Virginia and South Carolina have issued reports finding no link between electronic billboards and accidents.
But Fry said that doesn’t eliminate safety concerns, as accident causes are often misreported.
“People don’t say, ‘I hit that car in front of me because I wasn’t looking at the road,’ ” he said.
What’s needed are independent studies of drivers’ reactions to the billboards and the time they spend looking away from the road, he said.
From a business standpoint, LED billboards are a slam-dunk — even though they cost about $250,000 for a common 14-by-48-foot sign and must be replaced after eight years.
“They do generate more revenue,” Dvorak said.
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