Highway Beautification Office
James K. Polk Building, Suite 400
505 Deaderick Street
Nashville, Tennessee 37243-0333
Phone: 615.741.2877
Fax: 615.532.5995
Twitter: @TDOT_Beautify
Vacant
Highway Beautification Manager
TDOT’s Highway Beautification Office oversees a varied group of programs intended to preserve and sustain the natural scenic beauty of the Tennessee landscape. These programs include those regulatory in nature: Outdoor Advertising, Junkyard Control, and Vegetation Control, and those that are focused on public outreach, which include: Adopt-A-Highway, litter prevention, Pollinator Habitat, Landscaping, the Nobody Trashes Tennessee campaign and Scenic Roadways.
LaTonja A. Coates
Regulatory Section Manager
Phone: (615) 532-3459
LaTonja.Coates@tn.gov
Highway Beautification’s Regulatory Team is responsible for programs that are governed by Federal Laws, State Laws and State Rules and Regulations. The enforcement of these Laws, Rules and Regulations and Policies are used to monitor, regulate and enforce the Outdoor Advertising Program and all associated programs, which include Outdoor Advertising Control, Vegetation Control and Junkyard Control.
The Outdoor Advertising Control Program is a statewide regulatory program requiring the permitting of all off-premise outdoor advertising adjacent to the Interstate System, National Highway System and Federal-Aid Primary Highway System Routes. The TDOT Highway Beautification Office controls Outdoor Advertising in accordance with Federal Laws, State Code and State Rules.
The TDOT Highway Beautification Office Vegetation Control Program oversees the statutory requirements for vegetation control, which allows cutting and removal of vegetation on the State’s Right-of-Way, adjacent to permitted off-premise outdoor advertising.
The TDOT Highway Beautification Office Junkyard Control Program oversees Federal and State requirements for the screening of legal junkyards and the removal of illegal junkyards adjacent to controlled Highways.
Michael McClanahan
Outreach Section Manager
Phone: (615) 741-0803
Michael.McClanahan@tn.gov
Highway Beautification’s Outreach team connects the public and communities with TDOT’s environmental programs. These include litter and landscaping grant programs, volunteer opportunities with the Adopt-A-Highway program, and public education programs like the Nobody Trashes Tennessee litter prevention campaign, pollinator habitat and scenic roadways programs.
Adopt-A-Highway is a statewide, completely free, volunteer program where individuals and groups conduct quarterly roadside cleanups along an adopted route in their community. TDOT provides cleanup supplies and personalized signage along their route as recognition.
TDOT annually grants funds to all 95 Tennessee counties, for the removal of roadside litter and litter prevention education through the Litter Grant Program. Since the Litter Grant Program’s beginning in 1983, the program is responsible for nearly 321,000 tons of litter being cleared from Tennessee roadsides.
TDOT’s Pollinator Habitat Program was established in 2017 as a means to pursue sustainable maintenance practices that are environmentally and economically beneficial, educate the public on the importance and threats to pollinator species, and projects that have a larger ecological benefit to pollinator species.
Launched in June 2017, 'Nobody Trashes Tennessee' is TDOT's statewide litter prevention and public education campaign.
Scenic roadways are a window into the many beautiful, historic, tasty, ecologically significant, and unique communities in Tennessee. Several of these roadways have earned scenic byway, scenic highway, Tennessee Parkways or Discover Tennessee Trail status.
Visual qualities of a place influence the first impression of visitors and the travelling public. TDOT is committed to creating and preserving quality roadsides through Landscape Design Guidelines and community grant opportunities.