(1) The General Assembly finds and declares that the erection and maintenance of outdoor advertising signs, displays, and devices in areas adjacent to certain sections of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, and federal-aid primary and other state highways designated by the State Highway Commission in the Arkansas state highway system shall be controlled in accordance with the terms of this chapter and rules promulgated pursuant thereto, in order to protect the public interest; to promote the public health, safety, and welfare; to preserve natural beauty; and to promote reasonable, orderly, and effective display of outdoor advertising in the State of Arkansas.
(2) The State of Arkansas finds and declares that the removal of certain directional signs, displays, and devices in certain specified areas lawfully erected under state law in force at the time of their erection which do not conform to the requirements of 23 U.S.C. § 131(c), which provide directional information about goods and services in the interest of the traveling public, and which were in existence on May 6, 1976, would work a substantial economic hardship in the defined areas.