KEY WEST, Fla. — In Key West, there were four rainbow-painted crosswalks at Duval and Petronia streets in the city’s Pink Triangle neighborhood, also known as the city’s “Gayborhood.”
The rainbows, which had been a reflection of the colorful neighborhood and had attracted the attention of locals and tourists alike for about a decade, were gone on Tuesday morning.
The Florida Department of Transportation had warned that crews would do the work in cities that did not comply with orders to remove the crosswalks despite administrative appeals.
“From a legal perspective, I think it’s over. The city commission made its decision. I strongly disagree with this. We really need to do what we can to display rainbows in every other way that is permissible,” Key West Commissioner Sam Kaufman said.
DELRAY BEACH
In downtown Delray Beach, there were four rainbow crosswalks at Northeast Second Avenue and First Street in the Pineapple Grove Arts District that city officials also tried to protect, but couldn’t.
Known as “The Pride Streetscape” art installation, Delray Beach officials unveiled it in 2021 to mark the fifth anniversary of the 2016 massacre at a nightclub in Orlando.
The dark paint was already fading on Tuesday afternoon.
“The high-gloss paint is very slippery when it rains,” Bob Costello, a Delray Beach resident, said, adding that he also opposes the cost of maintaining it.
The FDOT removals also included a rainbow crosswalk that was a tribute to the 49 dead at Pulse Nightclub during a Latin LGBTQ+ night in Orlando.
Delray Beach Commissioner Tom Markert said he was going to contact FDOT to see what could be done about the messy paint job.
FDOT ORDERS
After Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 1662 into state law, Will Watts, the FDOT chief operating officer, wrote a memo in June announcing efforts against “non-standard surface markings.”
Watts wrote on X that the directive was part of “Florida’s proactive efforts to ensure we keep our transportation facilities free & clear of political ideologies.” The FDOT sent letters to cities and threatened to withhold funds for roadway projects.
The FDOT’s 2023 Manual of Uniform Minimum Standards for Design, Construction, and Maintenance for Streets and Highways already recommended not applying “pavement or surface art on travel lanes, paved shoulders, bridges, intersections, crosswalks, or sidewalks” adding that “pavement or surface art is defined as surface markings that are not in direct support of traffic control or public safety.”
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration’s latest Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, the “acceptability of aesthetic surface treatments on street or highway right-of-way” is to be “determined by local or state authorities” who have jurisdiction over the roadway.
In July, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a memo on “distraction-reducing” strategies.
“Taxpayers expect their dollars to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks. Political banners have no place on public roads. I’m reminding recipients of USDOT roadway funding that it’s limited to features advancing safety, and nothing else,” Duffy wrote. “It’s that simple.”
Related stories
- FDOT extends deadline to remove Key West rainbow crosswalk amid dispute
- Delray Beach rainbow crosswalk deadline extended as state disputes legality
- Pastors arrested during effort to protect ‘Black History Matters’ mural from Florida Department of Transportation
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