Does This Billboard Look Like It's 100 Feet Away From the Freeway? Didn't Think So.

Yesterday Friend of Unfair Park John M wondered if we had any spare interns who'd be able to snap a photo of the newly installed billboard next to the Woodall Rodgers ramp that dumps into northbound Stemmons Freeway. And when I say "next to," I mean "right on top of,"...

By Robert Wilonsky

July 30, 2010

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Yesterday Friend of Unfair Park John M wondered if we had any spare interns who'd be able to snap a photo of the newly installed billboard next to the Woodall Rodgers ramp that dumps into northbound Stemmons Freeway. And when I say "next to," I mean "right on top of," as evidenced by the photos Patrick just took while I drove him 'round the bend.

I asked Frank Librio, the city's spokesman, if this was, ya know, legal. Because from the looks of the Dallas City Code, it doesn't appear to be: "A sign may not be relocated within 100 feet of an expressway unless it was originally located within 100 feet of an expressway or new expressway." Librio suggested I call Theresa O'Donnell, director of Sustainable Development, or David Cossum and Neva Dean, also in that department. Several messages have been left for them, as well as with the Clear Channel Outdoor rep said to be responsible for its erection.

And even if it is within code, that sucker's sure distracting. But for some reason, it does make me want to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey again.

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