Are Roadside Memorials legal or not? The age-old question arises over and over again. There doesn’t seem to be any real rules, laws, policies, or procedures for erecting and putting up Roadside Memorials across the board, with a blanket policy covering all 50 USA States. We start our list alphabetically with Alabama State Roadside Memorial Registry PAGE and all the way through Wyoming State Roadside Memorial Registry PAGE.
So, with that, it’s up to each State to determine if they view Roadside Memorials as legal or illegal. In the grand picture of things, we know that all good, caring folks always want to do the right thing. With that said, we are talking about obeying the current laws governing their State regarding legal or illegal Roadside Memorials.
Some States allow handmade personal Roadside Memorial Tributes for their loved ones, which are legal and not illegal in any way. Some do not. Some do not have any program, nor do they have anything close to anything documented on putting up Roadside Memorials. Some we hear have legislation in the “process”.
Some have state-organized Roadside Memorial programs that are official and legal, and, in many families’ eyes, the best way for many reasons, but that’s another article of its own. Some States allow you to set up Roadside Memorials yourself, but they can only be displayed for specific periods before they need to be taken down. Some States also make you your own real Roadside Memorial Sign and install it just like a real sign but along with that is a fee for this process, service, materials, time etc. and usually still have permit time limits that we believe need to be renewed (paid) again and or just applied for to renew once the initial permit is issued and the sign made and installed. BUT,…don’t quote us on that 100% just yet. We will get to each state one by one on the MAIN State Roadside Memorial Registry START HERE Page.
Now, if a State doesn’t have ANY written rules, policies, procedures, or laws, does that mean you can erect anything you want on the side of, or in the public state-maintained roads in the form of a Roadside Memorial? And if you did this, would it be legal or illegal in the States’ eyes?
Just because the State doesn’t have laws on the books about Roadside Memorials and whether they are legal or illegal, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have laws on the books about the roadside specifically, and about nothing being built or erected, be it a Roadside Memorial or not. There is always a catch-all, and we always know this. If they don’t get you one way, they get you another way.
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