San Antonio is asking the state to keep the rainbow crosswalk it installed in June of 2018, arguing the city has seen no indication the move made the intersection at North Main Avenue and East Evergreen Street less safe.

Safety was among the concerns Gov. Greg Abbott cited when he joined other red-state leaders in ordering cities and counties to remove “any and all political ideologies from our streets” earlier this month — in the interest of keeping “Texans moving safely and free from distraction.”

Cities were supposed to work with their TxDOT district engineer to identify places where they might be out of compliance and resolve them within 30 days, or risk losing state and federal grant money.

But some exceptions may be granted, TxDOT’s Executive Director Mark Williams said in an Oct. 8 letter to city leaders, “based on a demonstrated public safety benefit or compelling justification.”

That’s exactly what San Antonio is hoping to prove, First Assistant City Attorney Liz Provencio told the city’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Commission Monday night, according to Texas Public Radio.

The city plans to present evidence that there’s actually been a reduction in the number of traffic incidents since the brightly-colored crosswalk was completed more than seven years ago.

“In that entire timeframe, we’ve had two (incidents) so there’s no indication that it’s made it any less safe,” Provencio told TPR.

When Abbott’s proclamation was first announced, city leaders didn’t seem optimistic about getting to keep the sidewalk.

“We don’t need crosswalks for pride, right?” Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said at the time. “They’re nice to have, but that pride rolls on.”

But the request for an exception comes in contrast to the city of Houston, where the mayor has taken a decidedly non-confrontational approach to Republican leaders, and already painted over a rainbow crosswalk at 2:30 a.m. on Monday. (Residents recreated it with chalk hours later.)

It’s unclear whether San Antonio has any other out-of-compliance installations beyond the crosswalk at the city’s Pride Cultural Heritage District.

In addition to “decorative crosswalks,” TxDOT told the city it was looking into “murals, or markings conveying artwork or other messages are prohibited on travel lanes, shoulders, intersections, and crosswalks unless they serve a direct traffic control or safety function.”