(a) No person shall place, maintain or display upon or in view of any highway any unauthorized sign, signal, marking or device which purports to be or is an imitation of or resembles an official traffic-control device or railroad sign or signal, or which attempts to direct the movement of traffic, or which projects any flashing or revolving beams of light, or which hides from view or interferes with the effectiveness of any official traffic-control device or any railroad sign or signal, and no person shall place or maintain nor shall any public authority permit upon any street or highway any traffic sign or signal bearing thereon any commercial advertising; provided, however, that the governing board of any city or town may permit, under such conditions as the said board may deem proper, commercial or other advertising upon any traffic sign located on streets or highways within said city or town and not designated as either state or federal highways or extensions thereof.
(b) This section shall not be deemed to prohibit the erection upon private property adjacent to highways of signs giving useful directional information and of a type that cannot be mistaken for official signs.
(c) Every such prohibited sign, signal or marking is hereby declared to be a public nuisance and the authority having jurisdiction over the highway is hereby empowered to remove the same or cause it to be removed without notice.
Laws 1961, p. 375, § 11-206.