El Paso, TX Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

El Paso regulates billboards in Article III of Chapter 20.18, and the rules reach the whole city and its extraterritorial jurisdiction. Section 20.18.220(A) sets the freeway cap: in C-3, C-4, M-1, M-2 and M-3 districts on Interstate Highway 10, a new static or new CEVM billboard can carry display faces up to 672 square feet and stand no higher than 60 feet, not counting a cutout that rises above the rectangular border. Height is measured from the grade at the centerline of the main-traveled way closest to the sign, excluding a frontage road of a controlled access highway, or from the base of the sign structure if the main-traveled way is below grade. On major arterials, super arterials or higher arterials in the same districts, section 20.18.220(B) drops the limit to 300 square feet, with the top of the face no more than 35 feet above the grade of the freeway, expressway or interstate highway. Section 20.18.220(C) allows no more than eight bulletin billboards on Loop 375 from Interstate Highway 10 to Montana, spaced at least 6,000 feet apart.

Setbacks come from section 20.18.230. A new static billboard must be at least 350 feet from the property line of any residential use or any listed residential, apartment, mixed-use or SmartCode district, and a new CEVM billboard must be 500 feet away under subsection (B). The SmartCode exception covers only a sign abutting a SmartCode Zone where residential use is prohibited by law. Signs up to 72 square feet sit 35 feet from C-1 and C-5 property lines on the same side of the street, larger signs sit 50 feet from C-1 through C-5 lines, and no new billboard can stand within 35 feet of a freestanding on-premises sign on the same side of the street. Section 20.18.240 adds 1,500 feet of spacing between billboards on the same side of the road. Construction must finish within six months of permit issuance, with one six-month extension from the planning division under section 20.18.210.