Dallas is waiting for the Texas Department of Transportation to decide whether it can keep 30 decorative crosswalks, including rainbow-themed designs in Oak Lawn, Black Lives Matter murals in South Dallas, and artistic installations in Uptown, after the state ordered their removal.
The dispute highlights how TxDOT’s push for uniform roadway standards is colliding with cities’ efforts to allow streetscapes for expression, leaving Dallas in regulatory limbo as the state decides how hard to enforce its rules.
TxDOT spokesman Ryan LaFontaine said the agency is still reviewing exception requests from cities across the state, including Dallas, but has made no decision.
“We are awaiting documentation from the City of Dallas,” LaFontaine told The Dallas Morning News, adding there is currently no deadline for compliance review. “We’ve asked for a plan from the city to be in compliance.”
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Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert told state officials no additional documents are coming.
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George Villarreal, TxDOT’s traffic safety division director, responded in a Nov. 25 letter, rejecting the city’s initial exception request because it didn’t include “a signed and sealed document by a traffic engineer stating that the crosswalks are in compliance” with state standards. He said the city had until Dec. 10 to submit an updated request.
Tolbert responded Dec. 9, saying the city cannot provide the certification and reiterating its request for an exception based on justifications made in a Nov. 6 letter.
“While the city maintains its current safety data for this area demonstrates that the existing crosswalk design and configurations at these locations have presented no measurable public safety issues and have not been a detriment to the safety of road users, a signed and sealed certification stating that the crosswalks are in compliance with the (Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices” cannot be issued as requested,” Tolbert wrote in the Dec. 9 letter to TxDOT obtained by The News via a public records request.
Nick Starling, a spokesman for the City of Dallas, said the city has received no update from the state since then.
“The deadline was on Dec. 10, and the city sent its letter on Dec. 9,” he told The News. Gus Khankarli, Dallas’ director of transportation and public works, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the removal of decorative crosswalks in October, calling them “distractions” that promote political messages. His directive largely targeted crosswalks painted in rainbow colors, a prominent LGBTQ+ symbol, and followed a federal push to clear roads of non-standard markings for safety reasons.
Cities that refuse to comply with the governor’s directive may be at risk of losing federal and state transportation funding.
TxDOT sent a letter to local transportation officials on Oct. 8 giving cities 30 days to remove any crosswalks that don’t meet state standards. State standards require crosswalks to have plain white lines.
The crosswalks have become a focal point in a broader debate over local expression versus state uniformity. Cities like Galveston and Houston have already removed their rainbow crosswalks in response to Abbott’s directive.
San Antonio agreed to remove its rainbow crosswalks in the Tobin Hill neighborhood after TxDOT rejected its initial exemption request, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The city was required to submit a removal plan or risk losing state and federal transportation funding. San Antonio will replace the crosswalks with standard markings by Jan. 15 but plans to install rainbow-colored sidewalk treatments nearby as a compromise.
The installations in Dallas include 10 rainbow crosswalks in Oak Lawn, which celebrate Dallas’s LGBTQ+ community and were approved by the Dallas City Council in 2019; 16 Black Lives Matter crosswalks along Al Lipscomb Way and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in South Dallas, funded by the nonprofit Abounding Prosperity Inc. and installed in 2022; and four individualized art crosswalks, like the “Unicorn Art Theory” installation in Uptown, commissioned by Uptown Dallas Inc. that has been around since 2017.
Local leaders and advocates have opposed the crackdown, arguing they are vital symbols of neighborhood identity.
“In Oak Lawn specifically, our rainbow crosswalks are a symbol of pride and inclusion, not politics,” council member Paul Ridley, who represents the area, said in a November newsletter to residents. He added there is no data showing decorative crosswalks are less safe and praised the city for “standing firm for what is right for our residents rather than caving to political pressure.”
Tolbert told state officials if the transportation department denied the request, the city would need 90 days from the date of the denial to put in place a plan to remove all the pavement markings.