Murfreesboro, TN Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

The Interstate 24 on-site sign is a special category of ground sign available in the CH, H-I, L-I and CF zoning districts, listed under single-tenant commercial or noncommercial signs. Section 25.2-2 defines it as an on-site ground sign located within a 2,000-foot radius of the center of an Interstate 24 interchange. The payoff is scale. An ordinary single-tenant ground sign in those districts gets 75 square feet plus one square foot for each linear foot of street frontage above 100 feet, capped at 150 square feet, and stands 25 feet tall at most (16 feet within 200 feet of a residential zone). The interstate sign is allowed 200 square feet and 50 feet.

Qualification is all or nothing. Section 25.2-26(C)(4)(b)[8] says all of these conditions must exist: the sign sits within the 2,000-foot radius of the Interstate 24 interchange center; it is not within 300 feet of a residential zone; the lot has at least 200 feet of road frontage; no attached building sign on the lot exceeds 55 feet in height; and the applicant provides an as built survey by a Tennessee registered engineer verifying the size and height of the signs. Miss one and the sign is treated as an ordinary ground sign.

Once qualified, the dimensional limits are 200 square feet maximum area, a 10-foot setback from the right-of-way, a 10-foot minimum distance from power lines (the standard ground sign needs only 8 feet), and a 50-foot maximum height.

The tall support can carry more than one sign. Under § 25.2-26(A)(3), an applicant entitled to two or more ground signs may use the interstate structure for two or more signs if each is no larger than permitted, each is either below the maximum ground sign height or above the minimum interstate height, no more than two are above that minimum, and no more than one ground sign sits below the ground sign maximum height. Any other type of sign attached to the support that stays under the maximum height for its type is left out of the interstate sign's area calculation, though the chapter still regulates it.

No sign goes up without a permit. Section 25.2-20(A) requires a sign permit from the Building & Codes Department and payment of the fee, which the City sets by resolution.