Bright Birmingham Billboards - it won't be pretty!

The new LED Billboard is now up on Highland Ave. in Birmingham, and I suspect it's going to catch a lot of people by surprise once it is turned on. It is actually facing north, so if you're going South on the Red Mountain Expressway, it will glare at you as you come out from under the Highland Ave. overpass.

Not only that, but if you shop, eat out, work, worship or live here, this Jumbotron TV screen will be staring you in the face 24/7.

The new LED Board will be brightly visible from all these places.

This is a view from the Highland Ave. Western - imagine it at night with a bright screen.



These monstrosities can be stopped, but it takes a city council that can look beyond petty politics to what is best for the people of the city. Unfortunately, Birmingham's city council would not even implement a temporary moratorium on digital boards so that they could look at these types of signs. We also informed the Alabama Department of Transportation, because two more electronic boards are going up in Malfunction Junction (where it's so dangerous that the speed limit was cut to 50 mph). We never received a response.

The Federal Highway Administration is doing an unbiased study on electronic boards and their effects on driver safety. There is no credible evidence at present as to the safety of these signs,and it seems irresponsible to allow them to go up until we know they're safe.

On behalf of Scenic Alabama, we are sorry we were not able to stop these things in Birmingham. But you can stop any more from going up, by contacting your elected officials and tell them your city needs to ban electronic billboards - NOW.