New Mexico Speaker of the House Ben Luján isn't the only one who the state Department of Transportation has told to remove a billboard to make way for a planned highway improvement project north of Pojoaque.

The DOT has told communications giant Clear Channel it must remove its sign in Arroyo Seco along U.S. 84/285 within 10 days. Meanwhile, a private landowner in the area has agreed to take down another billboard, DOT spokesman Mark Slimp said Tuesday.

"In general, I can tell you that if a sign is in the right of way (for the road project) it will have to come down," Slimp said.

Among those that might have to come down is a billboard, just south of the Clear Channel billboard, sponsored partly by the DOT — an anti-drunken driving sign that reads, "If You Hit the Bars Tonight, Don't Wind Up Behind Them. You Drink, You Drive, You Lose." The billboard is co-sponsored by Pojoaque Pueblo.

The state is acquiring land for $68 million highway reconstruction and safety improvement project between Española and Pojoaque. Slimp said there's no hard date for breaking ground on the job.

Luján last week removed his billboard — which advertised Camel Rock Casino on one side and Valley National Bank on the other — from his property. In addition to being in the project's path, the speaker didn't have a permit for the billboard.

When asked by a reporter about it this week, Luján pointed out there are several other billboards near his. On Tuesday he stressed that he wasn't saying the other billboards were illegal.

Sally Adams, manager of Clear Channel Outdoors in New Mexico, confirmed Tuesday that her company had been asked to take down its billboard because of the road project. She said the company believes it should be fairly compensated for the sign.

Slimp said under law, those with valid permits will be compensated by the state.

Luján is challenging the state's condemnation for the project of a fraction of an acre of land he and his wife own. Another nearby landowner, Luis Atencio, owner of El Paragua Restaurant in Española, also is challenging condemnation of his land for the project. Slimp said the state has been negotiating with the Atencio family and has made an offer for the land — though apparently there's no agreement on a price.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com