                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

NAMING HIGHWAYS, BRIDGES, INTERCHANGES, AND OTHER TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES (§
33.2-213)

The Board shall have the power and duty to give suitable names to state
highways, bridges, interchanges, and other transportation facilities and change
the names of any highways, bridges, interchanges, or other transportation
facilities forming a part of the systems of state highways. The names of private
entities, as defined in § 33.2-1800, located within the Commonwealth shall not
be used for such purposes unless such private entity pays the Department an
annual naming rights fee as determined by the Board. The Department shall place
and maintain appropriate signs indicating the names of highways, bridges,
interchanges, and other transportation facilities named by the Board or by the
General Assembly. The costs of producing, placing, and maintaining these signs
shall be paid by the localities in which they are located or by the private
entity whose name is attached to the highway, bridge, interchange, or other
transportation facility. However, for a highway, bridge, interchange, or other
transportation facility named after a state official killed during the
performance of his official duties, the costs of producing, placing, and
maintaining these signs shall be paid from Commonwealth Transportation Funds.
For purposes of this section, &#8220;state official&#8221; includes
law-enforcement officers employed by the Department of State Police and state
highway transportation workers. No name shall be given to any state highway,
bridge, interchange, or other transportation facility by the Board unless and
until the Board receives (i) for a naming after a state official, a letter or
resolution from the head of the state agency by which the state official was
employed requesting such naming or (ii) for a naming other than after a state
official, a resolution from the governing body of the locality within which a
portion of the facility to be named is located requesting such naming, except in
such cases where a private entity has requested the naming. No highway, bridge,
interchange, or other transportation facility previously named by the Board or
the General Assembly shall be eligible for renaming by a private entity, unless
such naming incorporates the previous name. The Board shall develop and approve
guidelines governing the naming of highways, bridges, interchanges, and other
transportation facilities by private entities and the applicable fees for such
naming rights. Such fees shall be deposited in the Highway Maintenance and
Operating Fund established pursuant to § 33.2-1530.
		No name shall be eligible for the naming rights under this section if it in
any way reasonably connotes anything that (i) is profane, obscene, or vulgar;
(ii) is sexually explicit or graphic; (iii) is excretory related; (iv) is
descriptive of intimate body parts or genitals; (v) is descriptive of illegal
activities or substances; (vi) condones or encourages violence; or (vii) is
socially, racially, or ethnically offensive or disparaging.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 33-12; 1956, c. 92; 1964, c. 265; 1970, c. 322, §
33.1-12; 1974, c. 462; 1977, c. 150; 1978, c. 650; 1986, Sp. Sess., c. 13; 1988,
cc. 844, 903; 1989, c. 727; 1992, c. 167; 1995, c. 94; 2001, c. 349; 2003, cc.
281, 533, 560; 2004, c. 110; 2005,  cc. 839, 919; 2006, cc. 197, 417, 833, 924;
2006, Sp. Sess. I, c. 8; 2007, c. 337; 2008, Sp. Sess. II, c. 5; 2009, cc. 670,
690; 2011, cc. 104, 164; 2012, cc. 729, 733; 2013, cc. 388, 569, 585, 646, 741;
2014, c. 805; 2019, c. 802.