Commercial advertising; placement on traffic control devices; prohibition; exceptions; tourist attraction signage; lights maintained on private property; restrictions
Ind. Code § 9-21-4-5
in effectSec. 5. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), a person may not place or maintain upon a highway a traffic sign or signal bearing commercial advertising. A public authority may not permit the placement of a traffic sign or signal that bears a commercial message.
(b) Under criteria to be jointly established by the Indiana department of transportation and the office of tourism development (before July 1, 2020) or the Indiana destination development corporation (after June 30, 2020), the Indiana department of transportation may authorize the posting of any of the following:
(1) Limited tourist attraction signage.
(2) Business signs on specific information panels on the interstate system of highways and other freeways.
All costs of manufacturing, installation, and maintenance to the Indiana department of transportation for a business sign posted under this subsection shall be paid by the business.
(c) Criteria established under subsection (b) for tourist attraction signage must include a category for a tourist attraction that:
(1) is a trademarked destination brand; and
(2) encompasses buildings, structures, sites, or other facilities that are:
(A) listed on the National Register of Historic Places established under 16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.; or
(B) listed on the register of Indiana historic sites and historic structures established under IC 14-21-1;
regardless of the distance of the tourist attraction from the highway on which the tourist attraction signage is placed.
(d) Criteria established under subsection (b) for tourist attraction signage must include a category for a tourist attraction that is an establishment issued a brewer's permit under IC 7.1-3-2-2(b).
(e) A person may not place, maintain, or display a flashing, a rotating, or an alternating light, beacon, or other lighted device that:
(1) is visible from a highway; and
(2) may be mistaken for or confused with a traffic control device or for an authorized warning device on an emergency vehicle.
(f) This section does not prohibit the erection, upon private property adjacent to highways, of signs giving useful directional information and of a type that cannot be mistaken for official signs.
[Pre-1991 Recodification Citation: 9-4-1-38(a).]
As added by P.L.2-1991, SEC.9. Amended by P.L.229-2005, SEC.8; P.L.30-2007, SEC.1; P.L.94-2008, SEC.59; P.L.79-2015, SEC.15; P.L.78-2019, SEC.12.
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://iga.in.gov/laws/2026/ic/titles/9Fetched: 10/17/2026