FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter Tuesday to the 50 state governors, urging them to remove distractions from roads, including divisive and distracting political messaging
like rainbow crosswalks.
“Roads are for safety, not political messages or artwork,” Duffy said in a statement first provided to
The Daily Signal. “Today I am calling on governors in every state to ensure that roadways, intersections, and crosswalks are kept free of distractions.”
“Far too many Americans die each year to traffic fatalities to take our eye off the ball,” the secretary added. The Transportation Department “stands ready to help communities across the country make their roads safer and easier to navigate.”
In the letter, first provided to The Daily Signal, Duffy asks governors to ensure that their states take part in the Federal Highway Administration’s Safe Arterials for Everyone through Reliable Operations and Distraction-Reducing Strategies, or SAFE ROADS, initiative. The letter went to the mayor of Washington, D.C., and the governor of Puerto Rico, in addition to all state governors.
The letter notes that an estimated 39,345 people died on American roads in 2024, a decrease of 3.8% from 2023, but an “unacceptable” number, nonetheless.
“The SAFE ROADS national initiative 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,” the
transportation secretary’s letter states. “These routes are where more than half of roadway fatalities in America occur and deserve enhanced attention.”
Duffy asks that “within 60 days” each state’s
department of transportation “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” (from Oct. 1, 2025, to Sept. 30, 2026). He asks state departments to submit these lists to the Federal Highway Administration’s office in each state.
“With our shared goals of moving people and goods safely and efficiently, we can make the expectation that all Americans make it home safely and on-time a reality,”
Duffy concludes.
In recent years, some cities have added painted crosswalks in rainbow colors to express solidarity with the LGBTQ+ movement.
West Hollywood, California, established a
rainbow crosswalk at the intersection of Santa Monica and San Vicente in 2012, and
San Francisco followed in 2014 with one at the intersection of 18th Street and Castro.
Philadelphia established one at 13th Street and Locust in 2015, and
Atlanta painted one at Piedmont and 10th Street in 2015. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, recently repainted its rainbow crosswalk, which had first gone up in 2018 but
temporarily disappeared when the road got resurfaced following construction.
Seattle has painted at least 11 rainbow crosswalks.
Chicago has painted at least three.
New York City painted one outside the Stonewall Inn, the site of the 1969 riot that activists call the beginning of the LGBTQ+ movement. Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, outside
Washington, D.C., painted an LGBTQ+ “Pride” flag on the road last year.
Conservative-leaning states are not immune.
Key West, Florida, has an intersection with four rainbow crosswalks.
Huntington, West Virginia, established a rainbow crosswalk last year, as did
Nashville, Tennessee.
In 2011, the
Federal Highway Administration ruled that crosswalk art is “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.” Crosswalk art makes the white lines of a crosswalk harder to distinguish from the pavement beneath it, the administration ruled.
The Federal Highway Administration
urged Ames, Iowa, to remove its rainbow crosswalk due to safety concerns in 2019, but the city refused.
“Crosswalk art has a potential to compromise pedestrian and motorist safety by interfering with, detracting from, or obscuring official traffic control devices,” the administration wrote. “The art can also encourage road users, especially bicycles and pedestrians, to directly participate in the design, loiter in the street, or give reason to not vacate the street in an expedient or predictable manner.”
