Bridgeport, CT Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)
Key Facts
- Rule
- Lighted signs must be shielded from glare
- Citation
- Municipal Code § 15.32.040(J)
- Enforcer
- Building official
- Applies to
- Off-premises signs (billboards)
- Size cap nearby
- 900 sq ft, 25 ft height
Summary
Every lighted off-premises sign in Bridgeport must be shielded so its beams cannot cause glare or impair a driver's vision on the adjoining travel way or highway. The rule is the lighting clause of the city's billboard standards, Municipal Code § 15.32.040(J).
Lighting. All lighted signs must be shielded so as to prevent beams or rays of light which are of such intensity or brilliance as to cause glare or to impair the vision of the driver of any motor vehicle from being directed to any portion of the travel way or the highway, or which otherwise interfere with any driver's operation of a motor vehicle.
Full Breakdown
040 is Bridgeport's rulebook for off-premises signs, meaning billboards, and subsection (J) is its lighting clause. The test it sets is functional rather than technical. Lighting fails if beams or rays of light are of such intensity or brilliance as to cause glare, if they impair the vision of the driver of any motor vehicle by being directed at any portion of the travel way or the highway, or if they otherwise interfere with any driver's operation of a motor vehicle. Shielding is the required fix, so a fixture must be hooded or aimed such that none of those conditions occurs, no matter how bright the lamp itself is.
The clause sits alongside the section's dimensional limits for the same signs: a maximum area of 900 square feet, a maximum height of 25 feet, a maximum length of 60 feet, and highway spacing rules of 1,000 feet and 300 feet. 120, with authority to order repairs to, or removal of, unsafe or noncompliant signs at the owner's expense.
Violations & Fines
A glare-producing or unshielded billboard light is treated as an unsafe sign. The building official can order shielding repairs within 10 days, then remove the sign at the owner's expense if the problem is not resolved.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Bridgeport billboard use floodlights aimed at the road?
Who enforces billboard lighting rules in Bridgeport?
What counts as unlawful billboard lighting?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Bridgeport
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Billboard Lighting in Nearby Cities
How other cities in this county handle billboard lighting.