1. It is unlawful for any person to place, maintain or display upon or in view of any highway any unauthorized sign, signal, marking or device which purports to be or is an imitation of or resembles an official traffic-control device or railroad sign or signal, or which attempts to direct the movement of traffic, or which hides from view or interferes with the effectiveness of any such device, sign or signal, and except as otherwise provided in subsections 4 and 5, a person shall not place or maintain nor may any public authority permit upon any highway any sign, signal, marking or street banner bearing thereon any commercial advertising.

2. Every such prohibited sign, signal or marking is hereby declared to be a public nuisance, and the proper public authority may remove the same or cause it to be removed without notice.

3. This section does not prohibit the erection upon private property adjacent to highways of signs giving useful directional information and of a type that cannot be mistaken for official traffic-control devices.

4. A person may place and maintain commercial advertising in an airspace above a highway under the conditions specified pursuant to subsection 3 of NRS 405.110, and a public authority may permit commercial advertising that has been placed in an airspace above a highway under the conditions specified pursuant to subsection 3 of NRS 405.110.

5. The provisions of subsection 1 do not apply to any sign, signal, marking or street banner bearing thereon any commercial advertising that is located:

(a) On a bench or shelter for passengers of public mass transportation built pursuant to a franchise granted pursuant to NRS 244.187 and 244.188, 268.081 and 268.083, 269.128 and 269.129, or 277A.310 and 277A.330;

(b) On a monorail station; or

(c) On a touchdown structure if a public authority authorizes such advertising and the advertising is placed and maintained by a person who owns real property adjacent to the touchdown structure and who has:

(1) Dedicated the touchdown structure to the public authority or has granted a fee or perpetual easement to the public authority for the construction or maintenance of the touchdown structure; and

(2) Entered a written agreement with the public authority on terms and conditions acceptable to the public authority.

6. If a franchisee receives revenues from commercial advertising authorized by subsection 1 and the franchisee is obligated to repay a bond issued by the State of Nevada, the franchisee shall use all revenue generated by the advertising authorized by subsection 1 to meet its obligations to the State of Nevada as set forth in the financing agreement and bond indenture, including, without limitation, the payment of operations and maintenance obligations, the funding of reserves and the payment of debt service. To the extent that any surplus revenue remains after the payment of all such obligations, the surplus revenue must be used solely to repay the bond until the bond is repaid.

7. As used in this section:

(a) “Monorail station” means:

(1) A structure for the loading and unloading of passengers from a monorail for which a franchise has been granted pursuant to NRS 705.695 or an agreement has been entered into pursuant to NRS 705.695; and

(2) Any facilities or appurtenances within such a structure.

(b) “Street banner” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 277A.130.

(c) “Touchdown structure” means a structure, connected to a pedestrian bridge, which houses an elevator.

(Added to NRS by 1969, 1492; A 1989, 996; 1999, 1261; 2001, 848; 2003, 3237; 2005, 2315; 2009, 869; 2017, 1421) — (Substituted in revision for NRS 484.287)