86.191 Advertising in highways prohibited, where.

(1) No person shall erect, or cause to be erected, any advertising, direction, guide, warning or other sign or marker within any public highway within a distance of 1,000 feet from the intersection of any 2 or more highways, when such intersection is beyond the corporate limits of any city or villages, unless permission is first obtained from the officials charged with the maintenance of such highways. The name of a newspaper on a newspaper tube or receptacle shall not be deemed to be any advertising, direction, guide, warning or other sign or marker within the meaning of this section.

(2) In case any person shall violate the provisions of this section, the authorities in charge of the maintenance of the highway upon which such violation occurs shall promptly remove such advertising, direction, guide, warning or other sign or marker.

(3) If any signs at present exist in the public right-of-way on any highway within 1,000 feet of the intersection of any 2 or more highways or streets beyond the limits of any incorporated city or village which are, in the opinion of the officials in charge of the maintenance of such highway, a menace to the safety of the public traveling along such highways, said officials shall notify the owners of such signs to remove the same, or to remove the danger producing features, and in case the owners do not do so, or in case the owners cannot be found with reasonable effort, the authorities in charge of said highway shall remove said signs from within the right-of-way.

(4) The triangles bounded by any 2 adjacent intersecting highways and a line drawn between the points on the center lines of said highways 1,000 feet from the intersection of their center lines, are declared prohibited ground for the erection of any danger producing advertising signs, when such intersection is beyond the corporate limits of any city or village. No advertising sign, design or insignia shall hereafter be erected within said triangles which will endanger the safety of the public traveling along any highways, and if there now exist in any such triangle any advertising signs, designs, or insignia endangering the safety of the public traveling along such highways, the authorities in charge of the maintenance of such highways shall take up the matter with the owner of the sign and with the owner of the land, and shall cause the same to be removed, or to be so altered as to remove the danger producing features. Within the same triangles the authorities in charge of maintaining any road shall require the property owner to minimize the obstruction to the view across the triangle insofar as is possible, and shall make such arrangements with the property owner as will make travel on the intersecting highways as safe as is reasonably possible.

(5) Any person who violates sub. (1), (3), or (4) shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $100 for each offense, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not exceeding 30 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.

(6)

(a) In this subsection, “business entity" has the meaning given in s. 13.62 (5), but does not include any real estate broker or salesperson licensed under ch. 452 or any other individual selling real estate or personal property owned by the individual.

(b) Subject to subs. (1) and (4) and s. 86.19, and except as provided in par. (d), no business entity may place, or cause to be placed, within a highway right-of-way any sign that advertises or promotes a business identified on the sign or a business whose telephone number or Internet website address appears on the sign.

(c) If a sign described in par. (b) has been placed within a highway right-of-way and the business identified on the sign or whose telephone number or Internet website address appears on the sign had the sign made, there is a rebuttable presumption that this business caused the sign to be placed in violation of par. (b).

(d) This subsection does not apply to any of the following:

1. Any sign placed with the permission of an official charged with the maintenance of the highway.

2. Any sign authorized under s. 60.23 (17m), 66.0429, 84.01 (30) (g), 84.30, 86.195, or 86.196.

3. The name of a newspaper on a newspaper tube or receptacle.

4. Any sign advertising a yard sale, garage sale, rummage sale, or similar event.

5. Any sign advertising an event associated with a church or school.

(e) Any business entity violating this subsection is subject to a forfeiture of not more than $50 for each offense. Each sign placed in violation of par. (b) constitutes a separate offense.

History: 1991 a. 316; 1993 a. 490; 2009 a. 227; 2017 a. 365 s. 112.