Tennessee Code Title 54. Highways, Bridges and Ferries § 54-5-1302

(a) In all respects, the erection of TODS shall comply with:

(b) Any TODS sign that was, or is, erected or installed within the right-of-way of any state highway by any local government or any entity other than the department or a contractor acting for the department is hereby declared illegal, and the sign shall be removed by the local government or entity that erected or installed it; provided, however, that the cost of removal may be recovered from the facility or facilities advertised on the sign. If the local government or entity fails or refuses to remove the sign within one hundred eighty (180) days after ordered by the department, the department shall remove the sign and may recover the cost of removal from the local government that constructed the sign. This subsection (b) shall not apply to any TODS sign erected or installed prior to April 27, 2016, within any county having a population of not less than eighty-nine thousand eight hundred (89,800) nor more than eighty-nine thousand nine hundred (89,900), according to the 2010 federal census or any subsequent federal census.