Duluth, MN Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

5 sets Duluth's general billboard spacing rule at 500 feet between signs, but carves out a stricter distance for the city's two interstates. Under subsection (a), billboards located along Interstate Highway No. 35 and Interstate Highway No. 535 must be spaced 800 feet apart, unless erected under an exception credit, in which case only the 500-foot spacing is required. Spacing is measured along the nearest edge of the right-of-way pavement to which the billboard is displayed, between points directly opposite the center of the billboard, and it only applies between billboards on the same side of the same highway, so a sign on the opposite side of I-35 does not count against the 800-foot gap.

Multi-faced or back-to-back billboards separated by up to five feet between faces count as a single billboard for spacing purposes. E that limits billboards generally to the MU-B and I-G districts (or MU-C for electronic billboards), caps sign area at 700 square feet, and limits height to 25 feet along on-grade roadways, measured from the roadbed crown on grade-separated sections. Because Interstates 35 and 535 are Duluth's two freight and commuter corridors through downtown and the hillside, the tighter 800-foot spacing concentrates billboard review on the highest-visibility advertising locations in the city.