TxDOT says Dallas must comply by Jan. 31 or risk losing federal and state money. City may try again for exemption, if it includes a licensed engineer’s seal.
By Everton Bailey Jr.
Dallas Morning News
https://www.dallasnews.com/
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
Dallas’ decorative crosswalks may have run out of pavement.
In a newly released notice, Texas regulators denied the city’s request to keep the artistic markings and set an end-of-month deadline to plan their removal or risk losing state or federal transportation funding.
Dallas’ decorative crosswalks may have run out of pavement.
In a newly released notice, Texas regulators denied the city’s request to keep the artistic markings and set an end-of-month deadline to plan their removal or risk losing state or federal transportation funding.
“TxDOT did not clarify how our crosswalks impede pedestrian and vehicle safety as requested by our appeal letter,” she wrote in a memo Friday to the City Council. “Staff will work with the City Attorney’s Office on our response.”
Council member Adam Bazaldua, whose district includes the Black Lives Matter crosswalks in South Dallas, declined to comment Monday. Council member Paul Ridley, who represents Oak Lawn and Uptown, home to the rainbow crosswalks and other decorative street markings, could not be reached.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
Advocates for the crosswalks have called them expressions of community identity rather than safety hazards.
TxDOT said the crosswalks – in Oak Lawn, South Dallas and Uptown – violate state standards, which permit only plain white lines. The state had required any exemption request to include a signed and sealed certification from a traffic engineer confirming the road markings were in compliance.
In December, Tolbert said in a letter to state officials that Dallas couldn’t provide that documentation.
Here’s what TxDOT outlined in rejecting that appeal:
- Dallas has until Jan. 31 to submit either a plan that puts the city in compliance or an updated exception request with an engineer’s seal, the city manager’s memo said.
- Failure to comply could result in the withholding of state or federal funds and suspension of agreements between TxDOT and Dallas.
- The city must pause any additional non-standard pavement markings while officials work with the City Attorney’s Office on a response.
The dispute began in October when Gov. Greg Abbott ordered Texas cities to remove decorative crosswalks, specifically targeting rainbow designs – a mark of LGBTQ pride – calling them distracting, non-traffic messaging.
Abbott’s directive was part of a broader federal push to standardize road markings for safety, and supporters said it was about consistency, not messaging.
In Dallas’ Nov. 6 exception request, Tolbert said there’s no evidence the artistic crosswalks compromise safety. She also said erasing privately funded markings would shift costs to taxpayers and strip away symbols residents value.
What’s next for crosswalks
The Texas Department of Transportation rejected Dallas’ request to keep its decorative crosswalks. Next steps:
- DEADLINE SET: Dallas must submit either a removal plan or a revised exception request, signed and sealed by a licensed traffic engineer, by Jan. 31.
- FUNDING AT RISK: Failure to comply could trigger withholding of state or federal transportation funds and possible suspension of TxDOT agreements with the city.
- NO NEW MARKINGS: TxDOT has directed the city to refrain from adding more non-standard pavement markings while officials work with the City Attorney’s Office on a response.
Everton covers Dallas city government. He joined The Dallas Morning News in November 2020 after previously working for The Oregonian and The Associated Press in Hartford, Conn.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
