Businesses Pay to Get On Those Blue Road Signs—and the Price Just Went Up

When the state announced it was building a freeway that would bypass the town of Ayden, Larry Dennis was uncertain about how it would affect traffic near Bum’s Restaurant, the barbecue shop his family has run since the early 1960s.

But he was sure about one thing: Bum’s logo would appear on the blue highway sign telling drivers where they could find food without veering too far off the freeway. 

“My dad liked road signs and billboards, and I always wanted to be on one of those little signs the state puts up,” Dennis said. “Everybody doesn’t listen to the same radio station, and they might not be listening when your ad goes off. Same thing for newspapers, TV, that kind of stuff. But if I put that sign up, it is out there working 24/7.”

Dennis knew what he wanted. But he didn’t know how to get it. He thought that the state Department of Transportation picked which businesses get the blue-sign treatment. After asking around, he learned businesses have to pay to get on the signs. He called the local DOT office and signed a contract. When the blue “FOOD” signs went up at Exit 113 in 2023, there was Bum’s.

Until this year, that was the process everyone followed. For $1,200 a year—$600 for roadside signs in both directions and another $600 for signs on each ramp—owners of North Carolina restaurants, gas stations, hotels, and visitor attractions could get their logos onto the ubiquitous blue freeway signs. 

Businesses that were more than one turn off the highway could pay another $300 for an extra sign to help drivers find them. 

The price was the same for all of the 6,000-plus blue signs on freeways, interstates, and interchanges on those roadways, from where N.C. 11 passes through Ayden (average daily traffic: fewer than 20,000 cars) to the Interstate 40 junction in Asheville (average daily traffic: more than 61,000).

That all changed in July, when the state privatized the program. After more than 40 years managing it as a break-even operation, the DOT passed it on to the North Carolina Signing Program, a subsidiary of Lonestar Logos, which runs similar programs in Texas and Virginia. On July 1, the program adopted a new fee structure that more than triples what some advertisers have paid for a spot on the blue sign. Now, N.C. freeways are divided into four tiers, with rates that rise based on the average number of cars that pass each day.

Privatization advocates say the change frees DOT staff to focus on other work and will bring more revenue to the state. The company managing the program expects to collect nearly $13 million from advertisers during the 2025-2026 fiscal year, and the state would get 70% of that revenue—about $9 million, according to information shared at an April 2025 BOT working session. Under DOT management, the program generated about $5 million annually.

“When I look at something that we provide that can be privatized and offer better efficiency not only for the state but for the end user, I’m interested in it,” said state Sen. Mike Lazzara, an Onslow County Republican who co-chairs the Senate Transportation Committee. “If someone is doing something for a living, they’re going to put 110% into it.”

The Long Road to Privatization

The ubiquitous blue signs began appearing along North Carolina freeways and interstates in the early 1980s. A state law passed in 1981 charged DOT with managing the program and charging enough in fees to offset expenses.

Legislators and the DOT began seriously considering privatization in the mid-2010s. The 2014 state budget included it in a list of programs DOT should study privatizing. That DOT staff study concluded that because a private company could invest more in marketing the program, “the State may stand to gain more by privatizing it than by managing a revenue-generating program internally.” The 20-member state Board of Transportation, which sets policies and priorities for DOT, recommended privatization in late 2014.

The board revisited the issue at least twice over the next six years but hit two barriers: existing state law and concerns about how it would affect small businesses. The 1981 law that created the logo program mandated that it only raise enough revenue to cover its own expenses. Changing that law would be a necessary first step to privatization. And small business owners raised concerns that they would be priced out of a profit-seeking logo program, according to records from board meetings.

The issue re-emerged during the 2023-24 legislative session. An early version of the state budget included a privatization mandate that was ultimately added to a larger transportation measure that became law in June 2024. 

Lazzara, whose committee approved privatization, cited post-pandemic cost increases as a factor. Under DOT management, the logo program raised about $5 million a year, but managing the contracts and maintaining the signs cost nearly as much. With more freedom to market the program and no other maintenance responsibilities to balance, Lazzara said, a private operator can work more efficiently.

“If a sign is damaged in a storm, work zone activity, accident—they’d go fix that,” DOT traffic engineer Brian Mayhew said during a presentation in April 2025. “The department has historically done that, but the expectation is that we’d get a higher level of service.”

The North Carolina Signing Program, NCSP, ultimately won an eight-year contract with a proposal that guarantees the state a minimum annual payout of $6 million. The state’s share could eventually surpass $11 million, according to projections shared at an April Board of Transportation meeting.

“I think that’s something we were really interested in because revenue for DOT is declining,” Lazzara said.

Lonestar began its push before the logo program was privatized. It hired a lobbying firm, Maynard Nexsen, in March 2024, and its Texas-based CEO Matt Johnston donated $1,000 to the 2024 reelection campaign of Rep. Phil Shepard (R-Onslow), the co-chairman of the House Transportation Committee and co-sponsor of the privatization amendment.

Shepard didn’t respond to phone or email requests for an interview for this story. 

Asked via email about the nature of its lobbying activities last year, the company sent a statement from Johnston.

“When North Carolina issued a request for proposal, we were honored that NCSP was chosen to partner with the Department of Transportation,” it said. “We have a lot of work to do, and we look forward to working with the North Carolina DOT to make the North Carolina logo program a model in the United States.”

NCSP is a separate corporate entity from Lonestar Logos, but several employees hold roles with both companies. Johnston is president of both Lonestar and NCSP, according to company websites. Six other officials have roles with Lonestar, NCSP, and the Lonestar businesses that manage the Texas and Virginia logo sign programs. In its proposal, the company committed to hiring 8 full-time, North Carolina-based employees.

State records indicate NCSP’s primary challenger for the contract, Interstate Logos, didn’t retain a lobbyist or donate to any legislator’s campaign. Interstate, which manages logo programs in 25 states, projected less total income ($5–6 million annually) and promised a smaller share of revenue to the state (60%).

Lazzara said he and fellow legislators spoke to several potential vendors while weighing privatization, but he didn’t recall any specific conversations with Lonestar representatives or lobbyists representing the company.

North Carolina is the last state in the Southeast to privatize its logo program. Virginia’s program, which Lonestar took over in 2020, generated more than $6.3 million in 2023, according to Lonestar’s proposal to DOT. Interstate manages programs in Georgia ($8.5 million), South Carolina ($5.7 million), and Tennessee ($3.4 million).

For Businesses, More Costs and Competition

By the end of its eight-year contract, NCSP projects annual revenues of more than $19 million, nearly four times what DOT made in its last year managing the program (July 1, 2024–June 30, 2025). 

The company plans to meet that mark with amped-up marketing tactics and by charging many businesses more than the state could. DOT didn’t market the program at all, Mayhew said at the April meeting, which is one reason “there are many signs that have empty panels.” NCSP plans to target new advertisers near existing logo signs with mail, phone, and digital marketing campaigns, according to the company’s proposal. It would also work with DOT to put logo signs at new interchanges.

NCSP’s new fee structure divides N.C. freeways into four tiers, with roadside and ramp sign ad rates rising with traffic:

While NCSP manages the program, the Board of Transportation still has to approve rates, and much of the discussion at its April session was about the increase. Melvin Mitchell, a Rocky Mount-based board member, said he’d gotten several calls from concerned business owners.

“They don’t have a problem with the increase itself, but they’re just taking such a large increase,” he said.

Michael Fox, who was chair of the board at the time, said that tying fees to traffic might open up competition the flatter structure didn’t allow.

“In urban areas, sometimes there’s 20 businesses [near an intersection], but there’s only room for nine logos” on each sign, he said. “One of the complaints I’d heard for years was that because our price is so low, there’s no market.”

The board approved the new tiers in May.

In the first three months since NCSP took over, the changes appear to have drawn more businesses than they’ve priced out. In an October report, NCSP said it had removed 94 logos and added 126 new ones. The state’s share of that revenue: nearly $4.9 million.

At exit 113 on the N.C. 11 Bypass, the Bum’s Restaurant logo still stands. Larry Dennis didn’t have to make any big decisions because his fees didn’t change. Even if traffic on the N.C. Highway 11 Bypass shot up enough to move him out of the cheapest tier, he’d strongly consider paying the price.

“If there were 60,000 people driving by, I might not even have time to look at the sign,” he said. “With all the people seeing it and wanting a barbecue sandwich, I bet I could really see a return from it.”

CORRECTION: The names of both Michael Fox and Brian Mayhew were wrong in an earlier version of this story and have been corrected.