On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter to every U.S. governor, the mayor of Washington, D.C., and the governor of Puerto Rico, urging them to remove political messages from crosswalks—including those painted in rainbow colors honoring the LGBTQ community.
“Roads are for safety, not political messages or artwork,” Duffy told The Daily Signal. “Today I am calling on governors in every state to ensure that roadways, intersections, and crosswalks are kept free of distractions.”
Citing an estimated 39,345 traffic fatalities nationwide in 2024—with over half occurring at intersections—Duffy introduced the Safe Arterials for Everyone through Reliable Operations and Distraction-Reducing Strategies (SAFE ROADS) plan.
He said it would will “focus on the non-freeway arterials within your State, including safety and operation at intersections and along segments, consistent and recognizable traffic control devices including crosswalk and intersection markings, and orderly use of the right‑of‑way that is kept free from distractions.”
Duffy gave the governors 60 days “to develop a list of arterial segments, including intersections, with the highest safety, operational, or compliance concerns that will be addressed by the end of Fiscal Year 2026.”
Rainbow sidewalks have become increasingly common across the country in recent years. Cities featuring rainbow crosswalks include San Francisco, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Seattle, Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Nashville, as well as smaller locales like West Hollywood, California—the first to install a rainbow intersection in 2012—Key West, Florida, Huntington, West Virginia, and Ames, Iowa.
“Crosswalk markings are classified as either transverse line or high-visibility,” the 2023 edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Devices for Streets and Highways — which is issued by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) — states.
“Transverse crossing markings consist of two transverse lines. High-visibility markings consist of longitudinal lines parallel to traffic flow with or without transverse lines. Crosswalk markings shall be white,” the guidance states.
The department has actually recognized some dangers associated with colored crosswalks and other street markings since the Obama administration.
“The FHWA is concerned that considerable ambiguity continues regarding how colored pavement can be used, especially between the white transverse lines of a legally marked crosswalk,” the Department of Transportation stated in 2013. “In 2011, the FHWA issued an additional Official Ruling that crosswalk art—defined as any freeform design to draw attention to the crosswalk—would degrade the contrast of the white transverse lines against the composition of the pavement beneath it.
“In deviating from previous Official Rulings on the matter that concluded an increased factor of safety and decreased number of pedestrian deaths were not evident after installation, this 2011 Official Ruling stated that the use of crosswalk art is actually contrary to the goal of increased safety and most likely could be a contributing factor to a false sense of security for both motorists and pedestrians,” the department added.
