Highway billboards to be used for alerts

Privately-owned electronic billboards along highways in Georgia’s metro areas will be used in emergencies to broadcast weather warnings, emergency alerts and lookouts for missing children and adults, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle announced Tuesday.

The billboards will be used much like the Department of Transportation’s electronic signs already hanging over the interstates through Atlanta. They routinely post traffic conditions but also are used to broadcast “Levi Calls,” similar to Amber Alerts, when a child has been abducted by someone in a car.

The 75 privately-owned billboards, donated by the Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia, normally carry paid advertising. But under the new program, they can also be used to display information on hurricane evacuation routes and shelters and wildfire alerts or for Mattie’s calls — issued when senior citizens are missing.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation can activate the signs, which can be updated instantly as events change.

The billboards are already located on highways in Atlanta, Albany, Augusta, Brunswick, Macon, Rome, Savannah and Valdosta.