§ 17-5. Interference with official traffic-control devices or railroad signs or signals prohibited.

(a)

No person shall without lawful authority attempt to or in fact alter, deface, injure, knock down, or remove any official traffic-control device or any railroad sign or signal, or any inscription, shield or insignia thereon, or any other part thereof.

(b)

No person shall mark any parking space, motorbus stop or reserved parking space on any street, nor deface or disfigure any such that may be marked by or under the direction of the chief of police; nor shall any person display any parking sign or "no parking" sign except as may be authorized by the chief of police; nor shall any person in the downtown section, or on any street within two (2) blocks outside thereof, place or display any sign or advertisement on the sidewalk.

(c)

No person shall place, maintain, or display upon or in view of any highway any unauthorized sign, signal, marking or device which purports to be or is an imitation of or resembles an official traffic-control device or railroad sign or signal, or which attempts to direct the movement of traffic, or which hides from view or interferes with the effectiveness of any official traffic-control device or any railroad sign or signal. No person shall place or maintain and no public authority shall permit upon any highway any traffic sign or signal bearing thereon any commercial advertising, or any billboard or advertising sign of any kind or description, except that motorist services business signs and supports which are authorized by the state highway commission pursuant to MCA 1972 § 65-1-8 may be placed and maintained within state highway rights-of-way. This shall not be deemed to 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 provided that such signs are not erected closer than fifty (50) feet to the centerline of state highways.

(d)

Every such prohibited sign, signal or marking is hereby declared to be a public nuisance and the authority having jurisdiction over the highway is hereby empowered to remove the same or cause it to be removed after ten (10) days' notice to the owner thereof by registered letter or otherwise.

State law reference

Similar provisions, MCA 1972, §§ 63-3-317, 63-3-319.