ACR B727 FLC MISSED NOTE ON ARPT CHART REQUIRING APPROVAL TO CROSS RWY 8R STOPWAY TXWY AND ALMOST ENTERED IT. RPTR ALLEGES THE STOPWAY TXWY E IS MARKED WITH STANDARD YELLOW AND BLACK TXWY SIGNS.

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AFTER PUSHBACK FROM GATE XX AS NOTED ON THE ENCLOSED 10-9 EL PASO TAXI DIAGRAM; ACFT (B727) WAS FACED E IN ANTICIPATION OF USING RWY 8R. AFTER WE LEFT THE GATE AREA WE REALIZED THAT WE WERE WITHIN 3000 LBS OF MAX WT FOR RWY 8R; BUT HAD A MUCH BETTER MARGIN ON RWY 4. AS WE APCHED THE AREA S OF THE RWY 8R STOPWAY/TXWY OPPOSITE TXWY G; THE GND CTLR CLRED US TO RWY 4. HIS WORDS WERE 'TAXI TO RWY 4.' I SAW THE YELLOW/BLACK SIGNS DEPICTING TXWY E. I DID NOT SEE ANY RED/WHITE RWY SIGNS TO INDICATE WE MAY BE ENTERING A RWY. DUE TO CONSTRUCTION ON THE RAMP; IT WOULD HAVE BEEN DIFFICULT TO EXECUTE A 180 DEG TURN BACK ON TXWY D; AND SINCE WE HAD AN UNRESTR TAXI CLRNC; I PLANNED TO USE TXWY E. AS WE PROCEEDED TOWARD TXWY E (AT THE SAME TIME COMPLETING THE AFTER START AND TAXI CHKLISTS); GND CTL ADVISED US TO HOLD OUR POS; STOP IMMEDIATELY; THAT WE WERE ABOUT TO ENTER THE RWY 8R STOPWAY. SUBSEQUENTLY; HE CLRED US TO USE THE STOPWAY TO TAXI TO TXWY F AND TXWY D AND TXWY C TO RWY 4. OBVIOUSLY; WE OVERLOOKED THE TINY FOOTNOTE IN THE INSET ON THE PLATE THAT STATES 'DO NOT CROSS WITHOUT APPROVAL.' I THINK THIS IS A TRAP; PARTICULARLY SINCE THE SIGNS ON THE STOPWAY/TXWY ARE THE NORMAL YELLOW/BLACK. EVEN THE HOLD SHORT POINT FOR RWY 4 WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO IDENT. THESE MARKINGS AND LACK OF MARKINGS ARE NOT CONSISTENT WITH THE INDUSTRY EFFORTS AT IMPROVING SAFETY. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR CLAIMS THEY DID NOT NOTICE A HOLD LINE ACROSS THE PAVEMENT LEADING TO RWY 8R AND THE STOPWAY TXWY E. RPTR ALSO REITERATED THAT IT WAS DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE THE HOLD SHORT POINT FOR RWY 4 AND INDICATED THAT THEY WERE CLOSER THAN EXPECTED TO RWY 4 WHILE MANEUVERING FOR TKOF.