It may be the duty of the department to implement a directional signing program for all institutions of higher learning, state colleges of applied technology, and state-operated special schools throughout the state, as follows:

(1)

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 54-5-708

  • Department: means the department of transportation. See Tennessee Code 54-5-103
  • Highway: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Road: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(A) Institutions that are located within ten (10) miles of an interchange on the federal-aid interstate system of highways shall be signed on the interstate highway system; provided, that all state community colleges may be signed on the highway system if the colleges are within nineteen (19) miles of an interchange on the highway system. Each institution meeting this criterion shall be signed at only one (1) interchange and shall be signed at the closest location, except where more than two (2) destinations are required to be signed at the same interchange. When this condition occurs, the two (2) closest institutions to the interchange shall be signed, with the remaining institution or institutions being signed at the second closest interchange;
(B) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, any state community colleges that are within the service area of Roane State Community College, located in any county having a population of not less than forty thousand seven hundred (40,700) nor more than forty thousand eight hundred (40,800), according to the 2010 federal census, or any subsequent federal census, and located within five (5) miles of Interstate 75, must be signed pursuant to subdivision (1)(A) regardless of the number of students enrolled in the colleges;
(2) Institutions that are not signed on the federal-aid interstate system of highways shall be signed at the road entering the state highway system nearest the institution; and
(3) All signing shall meet federal highway administration requirements regarding the number of lines of sign legend, sign location and spacing.