{"id":129808,"date":"2026-01-20T02:19:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T02:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/129808\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T02:19:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T02:19:26","slug":"dallas-given-deadline-to-remove-political-road-markings-or-risk-losing-millions-in-funding-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/129808\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas given deadline to remove \u2018political\u2019 road markings or risk losing millions in funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas<\/a> Governor Greg Abbott<\/a> has given the city of Dallas<\/a> until the end of the month to remove pavement markings<\/a> the state deems “political”<\/a> or face losing millions in critical funding.<\/p>\n

The markings included in the removal order include a rainbow crosswalk<\/a> in Oak Lawn and a “Black Lives Matter<\/a>” mural on MLK Boulevard.<\/p>\n

Abbott gave the order to remove the markings in October, 2025, arguing that the designs violate the state’s uniformity standards and could pose a safety threat by distracting drivers. His directive is part of a broader push at the federal level to standardize road markings due to safety concerns.<\/p>\n

The move came after Florida took similar steps and removed rainbow crosswalks – often in communities that support LGBTQ residents – as part of Donald Trump\u2019s push to end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across the nation.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the Texas measure have argued that the order was about maintaining consistency across the state, rather than Abbott stamping out ideological markets that run contrary to his beliefs, according to the Dallas News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The rainbow crosswalks in Dallas’ Cedar Springs and Oak Lawn area \u2014 as well as a ‘Black Lives Matter’ street mural and other ‘non-standard’ pavement markings will have to be removed per orders from Texas Governor Greg Abbott. If the city does not remove the murals, it could lose millions in state funding (Google Maps)<\/p>\n

Critics have not bought the state’s justifications for the removal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe forced removal of the rainbow crosswalks is an intentional act of erasure, plain and simple,\u201d LGBTQ Chamber CEO Tony Vedda said in a statement to the Dallas Voice<\/a>. \u201cThese crosswalks were never a safety issue. They were 100 percent privately funded and used NO tax dollars for the installation. The crosswalks are being targeted because they represent LGBTQ+ visibility in a state that continues to politicize our existence.”<\/p>\n

Some local business owners are also frustrated by the move.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crosswalks have become a recognizable feature of the Cedar Springs neighborhood and help reinforce the district\u2019s identity as a welcoming destination for customers and visitors,” Cedar Springs Merchants Association President Kevin Miller told the outlet. Anything that diminishes that sense of place has a real impact on how people experience and support this neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dallas officials requested an exemption to the order in November, noting that the crosswalk designs in Oak Lawn were privately funded and pointing to data that highly visible crosswalks actually improve pedestrian visibility. They also argued that the crosswalk design is protected speech and that removing it could violate the First Amendment.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Texas Department of Transportation rejected the city’s exemption request.<\/p>\n

According to a memo provided to Fox 4 News<\/a> from Dallas’ city manager, Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, the state\u2019s Department of Transportation said the pavement lacked proper certification and was out of compliance with state regulations. It also noted that the city failed to provide a document signed and sealed by a licensed traffic engineer that certified that the designs were safe for drivers and pedestrians.<\/p>\n

\u201cTxDOT did not clarify how our crosswalks impede pedestrian and vehicle safety as requested by our appeal letter,\u201d Tolbert wrote in a memo on Friday, which was given to the Dallas City Council. \u201cStaff will work with the City Attorney\u2019s Office on our response.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agency further directed the city to end the practice of non-standard pavement markings in roadways, and warned that failure to remove the designs by January 31st could result in the loss of state funding or the suspension of existing agreements between the state and the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Governor Greg Abbott has given the city of Dallas until the end of the month to remove…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5586,33891,102,104,103,392,900,55664,3332,7908],"class_list":{"0":"post-129808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-black-lives-matter","9":"tag-cedar-springs","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-headlines","12":"tag-dallas-news","13":"tag-greg-abbott","14":"tag-oak-lawn","15":"tag-pavement-markings","16":"tag-rainbow-crosswalk","17":"tag-state-funding"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}