Texas Transportation Commission Allows Billboards To Double In Size

The Texas Transportation Commission agreed to remove an existing restriction on billboards, effective in September 2019, that will permit billboards to double in size from…

The Texas Transportation Commission agreed to remove an existing restriction on billboards, effective in September 2019, that will permit billboards to double in size from 42-and-a-half feet and reach to 85 feet in height on state-controlled highways.

That action will allow legislators in 2019 to reconsider billboard heights and issue clearer rules governing billboard size, said Chairman J. Bruce Bugg. Restrictions on billboard size on rural roads in Texas began in 1985 under former Gov. Mark White and later expanded to state highways and freeways.

The billboard size restrictions eventually resulted in a legal challenge in 2016 claiming that hundreds of billboards do not satisfy state regulations because they pre-dated laws, road conditions had changed, or the billboard was not in compliance when erected.

Municipalities, however, will continue to have the authority to limit the size of billboards located within their city limits, Bugg said.

Billboards along rural roads maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation that are not eligible for federal funds for maintenance and improvements will maintain at the current height restriction.

This story originally published Strategic Partnership, Inc.