The purpose of this part is to furnish guidelines and prescribe policies regarding landscaping and scenic enhancement programs, safety rest areas, and scenic overlooks under 23 U.S.C. 319; information centers and systems under 23 U.S.C. 131(i); and vending machines in safety rest areas under 23 U.S.C. 111.

(a) Highway esthetics is a most important consideration in the Federal-aid highway program. Highways must not only blend with our natural social, and cultural environment, but also provide pleasure and satisfaction in their use.

(b) The FHWA will cooperate with State and local agencies and organizations to provide opportunities for the display of original works of art within the highway rights-of-way.

(c) The development of the roadside to include landscape development, safety rest areas, and the preservation of valuable adjacent scenic lands is a necessary component of highway development. Planning and development of the roadside should be concurrent with or closely follow that of the highway. Further, the development of travel information centers and systems is encouraged as an effective method of providing necessary information to the traveling public.

(a) Safety rest area. A roadside facility safely removed from the traveled way with parking and such facilities for the motorist deemed necessary for his rest, relaxation, comfort and information needs. The term is synonymous with “rest and recreation areas.”

(b) Scenic overlook. A roadside improvement for parking and other facilities to provide the motorist with a safe opportunity to stop and enjoy a view.

(c) Information centers. Facilities located at safety rest areas which provide information of interest to the traveling public.

(d) Information systems. Facilities located within the right-of-way which provide information of interest to the traveling public. An information system is not a sign, display or device otherwise permitted under 23 U.S.C. 131 or prohibited by any local, State or Federal law or regulation.

(e) Landscape project. Any action taken as part of a highway construction project or as a separate action to enhance the esthetics of a highway through the placement of plant materials consistent with a landscape design plan. Seeding undertaken for erosion control and planting vegetation for screening purposes shall not constitute a landscaping project.

(a) Landscape development, which includes landscaping projects and other highway planting programs within the right-of-way of all federally funded highways or on adjoining scenic lands, shall be in general comformity with accepted concepts and principles of highway landscaping and environmental design.

(b) Landscape development should have provisions for plant establishment periods of a duration sufficient for expected survival in the highway environment. Normal 1-year plant establishment periods may be extended to 3-year periods where survival is considered essential to their function, such as junkyard screening or urban landscaping projects.

(c) In urban areas new and major reconstructed highways and completed Interstate and expressway sections are to be landscaped as appropriate for the adjacent existing or planned environment.

(d) In rural areas new and major reconstructed highways should be landscaped as appropriate for the adjacent environment. Planning should include the opportunity for natural regeneration of native growth and the management of that growth.

(e) Landscaping projects shall include the planting of native wildflower seeds or seedlings or both, unless a waiver is granted as provided in § 752.11(b).

(a) Safety rest areas should provide facilities reasonably necessary for the comfort, convenience, relaxation, and information needs of the motorist. Caretakers' quarters may be provided in conjunction with a safety rest area at such locations where accommodations are deemed necessary. All facilities within the rest area are to provide full consideration and accommodation for the handicapped.

(b) The State may permit the placement of vending machines in existing or new safety rest areas located on the rights-of-way of the Interstate system for the purpose of dispensing such food, drink, or other articles as the State determines are appropriate and desirable, except that the dispensing by any means, of petroleum products or motor vehicle replacement parts shall not be allowed. Such vending machines shall be operated by the State.

(c) The State may operate the vending machines directly or may contract with a vendor for the installation, operation, and maintenance of the vending machines. In permitting the placement of vending machines the State shall give priority to vending machines which are operated through the State licensing agency designated pursuant to section 2(a)(5) of the Randolph-Sheppard Act, U.S.C. 107(a)(5).

(d) Access from the safety rest areas to adjacent publicly owned conservation and recreation areas may be permitted if access to these areas is only available through the rest area and if these areas or their usage does not adversely affect the facilities of the safety rest area.

(e) The scenic quality of the site, its accessibility and adaptability, and the availability of utilities are the prime considerations in the selection of rest area sites. A statewide safety rest area system plan should be maintained. This plan should include development priorities to ensure safety rest areas will be constructed first at locations most needed by the motorist. Proposals for safety rest areas or similar facilities on Federal-aid highways in suburban or urban areas shall be special case and must be fully justified before being authorized by the FHWA Regional Administrator.

(f) Facilities within newly constructed safety rest areas should meet the forecast needs of the design year. Expansion and modernization of older existing rest areas that do not provide adequate service should be considered.

(g) No charge to the public may be made for goods and services at safety rest areas except for telephone and articles dispensed by vending machines.

Scenic overlooks shall be located and designed as appropriate to the site and the scenic view with consideration for safety, access, and convenience of the motorist. Scenic overlooks may provide facilities equivalent to those provided in safety rest area.

(a) The State may establish at existing or new safety rest areas information centers for the purpose of providing specific information to the motorist as to services, as to places of interest within the State and such other information as the State may consider desirable.

(b) The State may construct and operate the facilities, may construct and lease the operation of information facilities, or may lease the construction and operation of information facilities.

(c) Where the information center or system includes an enclosed building, the identification of the operator and all advertising must be restricted to the interior of the building. Where a facility is in the nature of a bulletin board or partial enclosure, none of the advertising, including the trade name, logo, or symbol of the operator shall be legible from the main traveled way.

(d) Subject to FHWA approval, States may establish or permit information systems within the right-of-way of federally funded highways which provide information of specific interest to the traveling public which do not visually intrude upon the main-traveled way of the highway in a manner violating 23 U.S.C. 131 and other applicable local, State, and Federal laws, rules, and regulations.

(a) Subject to the FHWA Regional Administrator's approval of the lease or agreement, the State may permit privately operated information centers and systems which conform with the standards of this directive.

(b) There shall be no violation of control of access, and no adverse effect on traffic in the main traveled way.

(c) The agreement between the State and the private operator shall provide that:

(1) The State shall have title to the information center or system upon completion of construction or termination of the lease.

(2) Advertising must be limited to matters relating to and of interest to the traveling public.

(3) Equal access must be provided at reasonable rates to all advertisers considered qualified by the State.

(4) Forty percent or more of all display areas and audible communications shall be devoted free of charge to providing information to the traveling public and public service announcements.

(5) No charge to the public may be made for goods or services except telephone and articles dispensed by vending machines.

(6) Nondiscrimination provisions must be included in accordance with the State assurance with regard to 42 U.S.C. 2000d—2000d-5 (Civil Rights Act of 1964). The private operator may not permit advertising from advertisers who do not provide their services without regard to race, color, or national origin.

(7) The center or system shall be adequately maintained and kept clean and sanitary.

(8) The State may promulgate reasonable rules and regulations on the conduct of the information center or system in the interests of the public.

(9) The State may terminate the lease or agreement for violation of its terms or for other cause.

(a) Acquisition of interests in and improvement of strips of land or water areas adjacent to Federal-aid highways may be made as necessary for restoration, preservation, and enhancement of scenic beauty.

(b) Scenic strip interests may be acquired in urban or rural areas, combined in one or more projects, authorized separately whether or not there is or has been a Federal-aid project on the adjoining Federal-aid highway.

(c) Approval of acquisition and development of scenic strips on completed Interstate should be conditioned on a showing that the acquisition of scenic strips was considered under the Highway Beautification Program for that particular section of Interstate.

(a) Abandoned motor vehicles may be removed from the right-of-way and from private lands adjacent to Federal-aid highways for the restoration, preservation, or enhancement of scenic beauty as seen from the traveled way of the highway as a landscape or roadside development project.

(b) The State shall obtain permission or sufficient legal authority to go on private land to carry out this program. Where feasible, an agreement should be made with the owner that he will not in the future place junk, or allow junk to be placed, on his land so as to create an eyesore to the traveling public. The permission or authority and the agreement may be informal.

(c) The collection of abandoned motor vehicles from within the right-of-way must be a development project and not a maintenance operation. Once a State completes a development project for the removal of abandoned motor vehicles from within the highway right-of-way, it is obligated to continue the removal of future abandoned motor vehicles from within the development project limits without further participation.

(a) Federal-aid highway funds, but generally excluding Interstate construction funds, are available for landscape development; for the acquisition and development of safety rest areas, scenic overlooks, and scenic lands; for the development of information centers and systems; and for the removal of abandoned motor vehicles.

(b) Federal-aid highway funds may participate in any landscaping project undertaken pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section provided that at least one-quarter of one percent of funds expended for such landscaping project is used to plant native wildflower seeds or seedlings or both. The Administrator may, upon the request of a State highway agency, grant a waiver to this requirement provided the State certifies that:

(1) Native wildflowers or seedlings cannot be grown satisfactorily; or

(2) There is a scarcity of available planting areas; or

(3) The available planting areas will be used for agricultural purposes.

(c) Subject to the requirement of paragraph (b) of this section, Federal-aid highway funds may participate in plant establishment periods in or associated with landscape development.

(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (b) of this section, Federal-aid highway funds may participate in the planting of flowering materials, including native wildflowers, donated by garden clubs and other organizations or individuals.

(e) The value of donated plant materials shall not count toward the one-quarter of one percent minimum expenditure required by paragraph (b) of this section.

(f) Federal-aid funds may not be used for assemblage, printing, or distribution of information materials; for temporary or portable information facilities; or for installation, operation, or maintenance of vending machines.