Garland, TX Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)
Key Facts
- Minimum conventional face
- 350 square feet to qualify for conversion
- Maximum digital face
- 700 square feet
- Exchange ratio
- 3 sq ft removed per 1 sq ft converted
- Spacing between digital boards
- 1,500 feet, same direction
- Residential setback
- 300 feet, measured radially
- Structure height cap
- 50 ft or 42.5 ft above highway
Summary
Garland allows conventional billboards facing IH-635, IH-30 or State Highway 190 to convert to digital display only if the existing sign face is at least 350 square feet, and only under a Building Official permit with a mandatory sign-removal exchange elsewhere in the city.
For signs located adjacent to, and oriented toward, the main travel lanes or service roads of, IH-635, IH-30, and State Highway 190, the sign must have a conventional sign face with a minimum square footage of 350 feet. ... For support structures with only one digital billboard, it must be located a minimum of 1,500 feet from any other digital billboard oriented to the same traffic direction along the main travel lanes of IH635, IH30, and State Highway 190, measured linearly. A digital billboard may not be located within 300 feet of any lot located in a residential district, measured radially.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 4862189; v40 updated 2026-05-19).
Full Breakdown
78(K). To convert, the owner must file a digital billboard permit application for a face modification, and the Building Official decides whether the sign qualifies. Before the face is modified, the owner must obtain a demolition permit and physically remove other conventional sign faces at a three-to-one square-footage exchange ratio (two-to-one if the removed structure is an interior sign not facing the freeways), with at least one removed structure within five miles of the converted sign. The new digital face cannot exceed the size of the conventional face it replaces and is capped at 700 square feet regardless.
Freeway-facing digital billboard support structures are limited to one digital sign per structure unless spaced at least 1,500 feet apart along the same travel direction, and no digital billboard may sit within 300 feet of a residential lot, measured radially. 5 feet above the nearest highway travel surface, whichever is higher, and the new sign can never exceed the height of the conventional sign it replaced. Electrical service to converted structures must run underground between the property line and the sign.
Violations & Fines
The Building Official enforces Section 4.73 through the permit and demolition-permit process; a conversion completed without satisfying the exchange ratio or spacing/setback rules is not a legally authorized digital billboard and the permit application can be denied or the structure ordered brought into compliance. Digital billboard operators must respond to any display malfunction within one hour of notification and remedy it within 12 hours, freezing the display in the interim, per Section 4.73(I).
Frequently Asked Questions
Can any billboard along I-635 or I-30 go digital in Garland?
Does converting one billboard let the owner keep all their other signs?
How close together can digital billboards be along Garland's freeways?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Garland
Texas rules heatmap·Compare Garland to another location·View the Texas sign regulations overview
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Freeway-Facing Signs in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Dallas County handle freeway-facing signs.