San Antonio’s rainbow crosswalk celebrates the LGBTQ+ history of the Main Strip. Credit: Sanford Nowlin
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has denied the City of San Antonio’s request to keep the Pride Cultural Heritage District’s rainbow crosswalks, located at North Main Avenue and East Evergreen Street.
The City of San Antonio has until Jan. 15 to remove the colorful crosswalks to avoid the state from withholding transportation funds and imposing other potential penalties.
City officials sought an exemption to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s order that municipalities remove “social, political and idealogical messages” from their streets, which he issued Oct. 8 . The order called on TxDOT to enforce the removal of any surface markings that “do not directly support traffic control or safety.”
“Texans expect their taxpayer dollars to be used wisely, not advance political agendas on Texas roadways,” Abbott said in a public statement at the time. “Today, I directed the Texas Department of Transportation to ensure Texas counties and cities remove any and all political ideologies from our streets.”
This fall, the battle over rainbow crosswalks has been playing out in cities throughout Texas. These include Houston, which removed the markings in its historically LGBTQ+ Montrose neighborhood. Austin’s “Black Artists Matter” road mural also got caught up in the crosswalk culture war and was ordered for removal.
In his argument for the sweeping statewide change, Abbott suggested that the crosswalks were a distraction that make Texas roadways less safe.
“To keep Texans moving safely and free from distraction, we must maintain a safe and consistent transportation network across Texas,” Abbott said in his statement.
This was also in line with TxDOT’s SAFE ROADS (Safe Arterials for Everyone through Reliable Operations and Distraction-Reducing Strategies) initiative — launched by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on July 1 — which emphasizes that intersections and crosswalks should be “kept free from distractions.”
However, San Antonio city officials supplied data showing its intersection had fewer accidents since the 2018 installation of the rainbow crosswalk, proving it hasn’t been a hazard to pedestrians or motorists.
The city reviewed crash and injury reports from three years before and three years after the crosswalk’s installation and found just three incidents following its addition. By comparison, a nearby intersection without a rainbow crosswalk had four incidents within that same period.
Assistant City Manager John Peterek filed the city’s exemption request Nov. 5, arguing the point, according to a KSAT report.
“The available safety data shows the intersection at N. Main Ave. and E. Evergreen St. is safer now than it was prior to the installation of the rainbow striping and is safer than another comparable nearby intersection without the rainbow striping,” Peterek wrote. “This should serve as demonstrated proof of the public safety benefit as requested in the TxDOT letter as criteria to receive written approval for an exception to allow continued use of the crosswalks.”
In a response letter obtained by KSAT, TxDOT Traffic Safety Division Director George Villarreal said the agency “does not consider this exemption request acceptable.” The City of Dallas tried for an exemption using the same argument, to no avail — even though its crosswalks were privately funded.
San Antonio’s crosswalk was also community-funded. The City of San Antonio paid for the normal costs incurred for installing a white crosswalk, while nonprofit group Pride San Antonio agreed to pay for the rest of the costs, as well as the crosswalk’s ongoing maintenance.
Though Peterek endeavored to make the case that the intersection wasn’t a hazard, TxDOT’s Villareal said in the letter obtained by KSAT that San Antonio had until Dec. 10 to either submit an updated exemption request or submit a plan for removal.
City officials, meanwhile, had already signaled to residents that San Antonio could be forced to comply, despite personal objections and formal requests for exemption from the state edict. In a surprise October 30 public appearance, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, herself a member of the LGBTQ+ community, said the city had to “pick our battles” or “face a world of hurt.”
“Failure to comply with this directive may result in the withholding or denial of state or federal funds and/or the suspension of agreements between TxDOT and the city,” Villarreal said in the response letter.
In a response letter from the city on Dec. 10 obtained by KSAT, Peterek said the city “continues to believe that the crosswalks in question are safer than before the installation of the rainbow-colored paint, that the intersection is safer than comparable intersections, and that it demonstrated the importance of the crosswalks to the Pride Cultural Heritage District.”
“Nevertheless, the City will respect TxDOT’s decision,” the letter states.
Peterek added that the city plans to hire public contractors and identify funds for the removal of the crosswalks by Jan. 15.
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