DuPage County, IL Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

Section 37-1103(A)(2) of the county zoning ordinance folds state law directly into local review: any sign permitted under the Illinois Highway Advertising Control Act of 1971, which regulates outdoor advertising along the Federal Aid Primary System and the Interstate and Defense Highway System, is allowed in DuPage County only if it also conforms to the county's own sign chapter. That means a billboard cleared under the state permit still has to satisfy the county's setback, height and illumination rules to go up. Section 37-1103(B)(3) then closes a common freeway-frontage move: advertising signs are flatly prohibited within public rights-of-way, railroad rights-of-way and utility easements, which covers the highway shoulder and interchange land where operators most want to place a large sign.

Where an advertising sign is otherwise allowed on private land near a highway, it still has to clear the general standards in the same section: a 15-foot minimum setback from all street rights-of-way (or one foot for every 10 square feet of the largest sign face, whichever is greater), a maximum pole-sign height of 20 feet with the lowest edge no lower than 8 feet above grade, and diffused, non-glaring illumination that cannot reflect off the zoning lot or above 10 feet. 4.