Cone Zone: There are strict rules on where political signs can be placed

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - All around the Las Vegas valley, you can see political signs ahead of Tuesday’s Nevada primary.

Federal regulations and Nevada state statute prohibit political and advertising signage on public highway property which is why you generally don’t see giant political signs along Interstate 15 or US 95. But what many people don’t realize is that many of our surface streets around the valley are technically state roadways where the same rules apply.

“Sometimes campaigns don’t realize that some of these surface streets are state maintained roads by the Nevada Department of Transportation,” Justin Hopkins with NDOT said.

So exactly what are the rules for political signs along state roads like Nellis Boulevard, Craig, Tropicana Avenue and other local streets that are owned by NDOT? If the signs are on private property adjacent to a street like Lamb Blvd, the signs are allowed, but are limited by size.

“Appears to me the majority of these are on private land weather or not they meet the size requirements or not that will have to be double checked,” Hopkins said of the signs along Las Vegas Boulevard and Lamb.

Nevada state statute says that any signs adjacent to a state right of way cannot be bigger than four feet by eight feet.

“We don’t want signs to blow into the roads to fall into traffic lanes we don’t want our maintenance crews to have to dodge signs when their doing work and things of that nature,” Hopkins said.

And what happens to these political signs when NDOT removes them? They are stored in a maintenance facility for 30 days. NDOT tries to contact campaigns but if they can’t get ahold of them, they are disposed of.

With the primary on Tuesday, some of the signs will be removed by the end of the month. Both the City of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas said all political signs must be removed within 15 days. City of Henderson said they request all signs be removed when no longer needed. Clark County didn’t respond to a request for information.

You can report illegal sign placement on NDOT state right-of-ways by calling 775-888-7000.

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