A giant billboard promising burgers at the next exit is a familiar part of road trips across America.
Restaurants use those signs to tempt hungry travelers with steaks, fried chicken, seafood and oversized desserts. Even unusually memorable destinations, like the five weirdest restaurants in California, benefit from being easy for travelers to discover.
But in four states, restaurants cannot rely on traditional roadside billboards.
Alaska, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont have the country’s strongest statewide restrictions on off-premises billboards. That means a restaurant generally cannot rent a giant sign miles away and tell passing drivers to take the next exit. (Two other states, Oregon and Rhode Island, restrict new billboard construction but do not ban billboards outright.)
The rules do not leave restaurants completely invisible. Businesses can generally display signs on their own property, and states offer limited official directional or traveler-information signs.
Still, the absence of conventional billboards makes highways in these four states look noticeably different.
Hawaii
Hawaii was the first place in the country to ban billboards — and it did so in 1927, more than 20 years before it became a state in 1959.
The effort was spearheaded by The Outdoor Circle, a women-led civic group dedicated to keeping Hawaii “clean, green, and beautiful.” By 1927, the last billboard company operating in the territory had been dismantled, and Hawaii later codified the ban into law. The Outdoor Circle has continued defending it ever since, which is why proposals to loosen the rules still draw fierce public opposition nearly a century later.
The policy helps protect views that are central to the state’s identity and tourism industry. Instead of passing rows of towering advertisements, drivers are more likely to see mountains, coastlines, neighborhoods and tropical scenery. The aesthetic control runs deep enough that some Hawaii municipalities even require McDonald’s to tone down its signage, swapping the classic red roofs and golden arches for more muted designs.
Restaurants can advertise on their own premises and through other permitted methods. However, a Waikiki restaurant generally cannot place a conventional billboard miles away simply to promote a dinner special. That forces restaurants to compete through hotel recommendations, social media, local publications, roadside business signs and strong reputations.
Alaska
Alaska seems like a natural place for roadside restaurant advertising. Communities are separated by long distances, and hungry drivers may have limited options.
Yet Alaska has banned commercial billboards since 1949 — a decade before it became a state in 1959. The ban was reinforced decisively in 1998, when Alaska voters approved a statewide referendum by a 72 percent margin. The measure’s language was unambiguous: “Alaska shall forever remain free of billboards.”
Restaurants can still display qualifying on-premises signs and may use certain approved directional signs. What they generally cannot do is cover Alaska’s scenic highways with unrelated commercial billboards.
The result is a driving experience where mountains, forests and open land dominate the view instead of restaurant advertisements. Businesses must depend more heavily on highway information signs, online listings, tourism guides and word of mouth.
Maine
Maine passed its billboard-ban law in 1977, and it took effect in 1978. Before the ban, Maine’s highways held roughly 8,500 billboards promoting food, tobacco and other products.
The removal effort was championed by then-Governor James B. Longley, who argued that Maine’s tourism industry depended on preserving its natural scenery, and by state representative and environmental activist Marion Fuller Brown. The state gradually removed existing signs over the following six years, with the final traditional billboard reportedly coming down in York County in 1984.
Today, Maine law generally prohibits outdoor signs visible to travelers from public roads unless they fall under a specific exception. The state created official business-directional and logo-sign programs to help drivers find restaurants, lodging, gas stations and attractions without restoring billboard clutter.
That is why travelers can still see standardized signs listing food options near an exit. What they will not normally see is a giant lobster-roll advertisement rising above the trees 20 miles before the restaurant.
For Maine, the billboard ban became part of preserving the character of its highways.
Vermont
Vermont adopted its billboard ban in 1968 and became one of the country’s best-known examples of billboard-free driving.
Then-Governor Philip H. Hoff strongly supported the effort, believing that preserving the state’s natural assets mattered for both cultural and economic reasons. The billboard ban was followed by a broader set of land-use protections in 1970 aimed at guarding Vermont against overdevelopment.
State law generally bars outdoor advertising visible to the traveling public, with exceptions for approved signs such as on-premises advertising and official business-directional signs. On-premises signs are capped at 150 square feet and must relate to the business on the property. In place of billboards, Vermont uses official travel-information boards to point drivers toward food, lodging and attractions.
Vermont’s alternatives are deliberately more restrained than traditional billboards. A restaurant may appear on an official travel-information sign, but it cannot dominate the landscape with an enormous advertisement.
That fits a state whose mountains, farms, villages and fall foliage are major attractions of their own.
Restaurants still find customers
The billboard bans do not prevent restaurants in these states from becoming famous.
Businesses can market through social media, travel websites, local radio, tourism publications, hotel recommendations and signs placed on their own property. Official highway programs can also tell travelers which restaurants are available near upcoming exits.
The real difference is who controls the roadside view.
In most states, private advertisers can pay to place large messages beside major highways. In Alaska, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont, preserving scenery takes priority.
Hungry drivers may need to plan their stops more carefully.
But at least the view on the way to dinner remains largely advertisement-free.
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