As a campaign season that features statewide races for both chambers of U.S. Congress, state Legislature seats up for grabs and a gubernatorial contest heats up, political signs are going to become a more common sight around the capital city.
However, many of the most visible places to put signs, such as close to Alaska’s more than 5,600 miles of state roads, are not fair play, and subject to confiscation by the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, according to the department’s website.
Signs are allowed on private property, said DOTPF spokesperson Sam Dapcevich, but not in the state’s right of ways, where state employees will remove the signs.
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A highway right of way is a strip of land designated for transportation improvements by the state, according to the department’s website, and includes the road surface itself as well as an area beyond, which can extend hundreds of feet from the roadway. The expanse of state land in each right of way can vary; maps of the state’s right of ways are on the department’s website.
A political sign hangs from a business. Rules around standalone political signs are tightly regulated in Alaska. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)
“When they find in the state right of way they remove them and they bring them back to the maintenance building,” Dapcevich said in a phone interview. “People can come get them, but if there’s a repeat offender, there’s a $50 fine to get it back.”
A 2018 lawsuit allowed for temporary political campaign signs, no larger than 4 by 8 feet, to be placed on private land, according to the DOTPF’s website. It does not allow for other forms of outdoor advertising; billboards and other forms of outdoor advertising are largely prohibited, according to the department’s site.
The City and Borough of Juneau doesn’t deal with political signs, said City Manager Rorie Watt.
“It’s really more DOT. People put signs where they could be seen from the major roads,” Watt said in a phone interview. “Our roads are residential neighborhood roads and they don’t get the traffic.”
A political sign hangs from a residential fence. Rules around standalone political signs are tightly regulated in Alaska. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)
Signs are allowed on private property outside the state’s right of ways, according to the website, as long as they conform to the 4-by-8-foot size limits, and the owner is not being paid to place it on their property.
The owner of signs that are adjacent to the right of ways but are still in violation of other regulations will be contacted with a request to bring the sign into compliance with the laws. The department is required to remove noncompliant signs at the owner’s expense, according to DOTPF.
• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.
