LBJ Foundation Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Highway Beautification Act

BIG SUR, Calif., Oct. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On October 19, 2015, atop the breathtaking Bixby Creek Bridge on California's famed Pacific Coast Highway, the LBJ Foundation will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Highway Beautification Act. Signed into law by President Lyndon Baines Johnson, the Highway Beautification Act was an unprecedented effort by President and Mrs. Johnson to limit the billboards, outdoor advertising and junkyards that threatened to spoil the raw beauty of America and its interstate highways.

"This bill will enrich our spirits and restore a small measure of our national greatness," President Johnson said at the October 22, 1965, signing ceremony. "Beauty belongs to all the people."

President Johnson's daughter, Luci Baines Johnson, will rededicate a plaque at the Bixby Creek Bridge Scenic Overlook that her mother, Lady Bird Johnson, first installed nearly 50 years ago. Lady Bird Johnson came to the very same spot to dedicate California's first scenic highway "as the maintenance of a trust... for generations to follow."

The 4pm event, hosted by the LBJ Foundation in partnership with the Big Sur Land Trust, will feature comments by Luci Baines Johnson, Congressman Sam Farr (D-CA) and other prominent local officials.

"Almost 50 years ago, Senator Fred Farr joined my mother, Lady Bird Johnson, at the Bixby Creek Bridge to dedicate Highway 1 as California's first scenic highway. It was the beginning of a movement that reawakened our nation's conscience to the need to protect, preserve and celebrate our environment," Luci Baines Johnson said. "I am thrilled to be joined by Senator Farr's son, Congressman Sam Farr, for this 50th anniversary, representing our families' continued commitment to the environment."

"Passing the Highway Beautification Act was an historic moment in the environmental movement and I am proud of the Central Coast's role in creating the first State Scenic Highway," said Congressman Farr. "I want to thank Luci Baines Johnson for coming to Bixby Bridge to celebrate our parents' legacy and the legacy of California's scenic Highway 1."

The LBJ Foundation is replacing the missing plaque with a replica created by local renowned artist Gustavo Torres.  The monument stands next to Bixby Creek Bridge, gateway to Big Sur and one of California's iconic landmarks.

LBJ Foundation
The LBJ Foundation is a non-profit organization that was created by President and Mrs. Johnson to support the LBJ Presidential Library and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. Through the fundraising efforts of its Board of Trustees, the Foundation provides support to the Library that enhances quality programming, expands educational outreach and exhibits, and administers grants for researchers and scholars. The Foundation supports the LBJ School in the outstanding education that it provides its graduate students in public policy and governmental affairs, community outreach, and the exploration of global initiatives. One looks to the past and the other to the future, providing an ongoing legacy for President Johnson's accomplishments and his vision for our nation. For more information, please visit: www.lbjlibrary.org/page/foundation

SOURCE Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation