Under state orders, Orlando’s painted crosswalks are going away, but the eye-catching swans, citrus wedges and rainbows made the city a safer place to walk, reducing incidents where drivers slammed on the brakes, swerved or crashed as pedestrians crossed, city traffic data shows.
The city added bright murals and decorative crosswalks at four intersections on Orange Avenue in downtown last year. Since then, foot traffic nearly tripled at those sections of the busy road, yet the rate of conflicts with vehicles plunged about 65%, according to an Orlando Sentinel analysis of city data.
And at the rainbow crosswalk by the former Pulse nightclub — painted in 2017 to help honor the 49 people slain there a year earlier — there were just four crashes in the eight years since the colors were put down.
“There has been no data produced that shows that they are not safe,” said Mike Lydon, founder of the urban design firm Street Plans, which has worked with cities on street art projects. “My sense is the resurgence in this issue is motivated by politics, not actual data.”
Orlando’s street art data challenges the position taken by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, which insists, but has not provided data to show, that “non-standard” street markings can be distracting, “jeopardizing both driver and pedestrian safety.”
A rainbow crosswalk was removed overnight outside of Pulse nightclub in Orlando, one of the most significant LGBTQ sites in Florida, as part of state and federal transportation officials’ aim to wipe “political banners” from public roadways. On left, the crosswalk is shown in 2017. On right, the crosswalk is pictured on Thursday, Aug. 21. 2025. (Orlando Sentinel file photo, Ryan Gillespie/Orlando Sentinel)
Crosswalks and decorative street designs became a flashpoint in Florida on Aug. 21, when Orlando residents learned the Florida Department of Transportation, overnight, had painted over the rainbow crosswalk outside Pulse.
The department has ordered other cities to remove rainbows and other painted designs from their roads and even covered over the checkered flag crosswalks outside the Daytona International Speedway.
In defending the state’s actions, DeSantis has disparaged “political statements” on public streets and said a new state transportation law required the decorative crosswalks to be redone — a claim refuted by lawmakers who passed it and the text of the legislation.
His position, however, mirrors that of the Trump administration, which has pushed for uniform street markings nationwide as part of a “safety initiative.”
Orlando’s data is similar to the findings of the Knight Creative Communities Institute in Tallahassee, which found drivers drove roughly 25% slower around the decorative crosswalks it installed near schools, and drivers ran stop signs 10% less often.
Nationally, Bloomberg Philanthropy, which backed Orlando’s downtown crosswalks, has found that with decorated crosswalks there was a 50% decrease in the rate of crashes involving pedestrians and 38% fewer pedestrians crossing against the walk signal.
Convinced by its data that street art enhanced pedestrian safety, Orlando officials were planning at least a dozen more artistic crosswalks in the coming months. One was already approved at Rock Lake Drive and Tampa Avenue near Rock Lake Elementary.
But now those plans are scrapped, and the city, at the state’s insistence, is spending about $85,000 to remove the ones it painted in recent years.
For about 20 years, the Orlando region — spanning Sanford to Kissimmee — has been one of the nation’s worst places to walk. In 2009, it was deemed the deadliest in Smart Growth America’s “Dangerous by Design” study. It held the distinction through 2019.
In the most recent study last year, which reviewed five years of data, Orlando had improved but was still the 18th most dangerous in the country.
Traffic engineers have sought various interventions for improvement, mostly centered on how to reduce the speeds cars travel and also trying to improve pedestrian behavior.
The painted crosswalk at Church St. and S. Rosalind Ave in Orlando on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The design at the intersection will be removed to comply with a new FDOT policy that requires wiping asphalt art from streets across the state. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
In downtown Orlando, asphalt art appears to have helped, city officials contend.
City data shows that 171% more people used the crosswalk when crossing Orange Avenue at Washington Street, Pine Street, Church Street and Central Boulevard. And despite that huge jump in people traffic, there was a 5.5% dip in actions that could lead to crashes, such as swerving.
That data, when accounting for nearly three times more people using the crosswalk than prior to the murals, translates to about a 65% decrease in incidents per pedestrian, according to the Sentinel’s analysis, which was reviewed for accuracy by city planners. The analysis shows similar drops in the raw number and the rate of people crossing outside of a crosswalk or against a signal.
Florida’s new rules represent an abrupt about-face for its transportation department.
FDOT, for example, approved the rainbow Pulse crosswalk in 2017 and included it in an Orange Avenue road-upgrade plan, even showcasing that decorative spot in a presentation given throughout the years-long process. After tearing up the crosswalk as part of the upgrades, FDOT itself repainted the rainbow earlier this year.
A bicycle lane at the intersection of Laureate Boulevard and Benavente Avenue, outside Laureate Park Elementary School in Lake Nona, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The art on the bicycle lane will be painted over by FDOT. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
Last spring, it had contests for school children to design colorful bike lane decorations as part of a safety program, holding ceremonies to announce the winners. Several months later those are to be painted over, too.
Neither FDOT nor the U.S. Department of Transportation responded to requests for data, research or studies to support the new decision to eliminate the colorful crosswalks and street art.
The first blow against street art seemed to come in a July directive from Sean Duffy, President Donald Trump’s transportation secretary. Duffy’s memo demanded states fall in line with a “safety initiative” stressing the need for consistent markings on roads. Then he posted on X that “taxpayers expect their dollars to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks.”
Soon after, Florida cities began receiving notice from FDOT with similar messaging, noting that a new agency rule “explicitly prohibits the application of pavement or surface art on travel lanes, paved shoulders, intersections, crosswalks or sidewalks.”
DeSantis on Tuesday pointed to a new bipartisan state law as a reason for his department’s actions.
“The Florida legislature passed a law that was very clear … we’re not doing the commandeering of the roads to put up messaging,” he said in Tampa.
FDOT placed signs at the former rainbow crosswalk in front of the Pulse memorial, warning protestors not to block traffic or deface the crosswalk, on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
But multiple state lawmakers in South and Central Florida said decorative crosswalks and street art were not part of their discussions when the Legislature took up that multi-pronged transportation bill in the legislative session this spring.
“None. Zero. Zilch,” said state Sen. Carlos Smith, D-Orlando.
The final transportation package adopted by lawmakers contained no explicit language banning street art.
Sponsors of the legislation, including then-state Sen. Jay Collins, whom the governor appointed Aug. 12 to fill the vacant office of lieutenant governor, didn’t say anything about crosswalks, intersections or street art during public committee meetings or full Senate and House floor debates.
“It was never brought up or mentioned by anybody,” said state Rep. Chip LaMarca, a Broward Republican and chair of the House Economic Infrastructure Subcommittee, with jurisdiction over transportation
LaMarca, who said he spoke with FDOT Secretary Jared Perdue “multiple times” about the agency head’s priorities this year, and there was “never anything like this” involved in those discussions, nor any mention of new policies about street decorations.
An aerial drone view of the Back the Blue street mural outside of the Tampa Police Headquarters, located along Madison Street across from TPD, 411 N Franklin St, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025 in Tampa. The mural is slated to be removed. (Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times)
Fort Lauderdale, in LaMarca’s district, has been ordered to remove several painted streets, including a rainbow section and state-approved seascape scenes. Elsewhere, Tampa was ordered to remove a pro-police “Back The Blue” road mural, and Delray Beach faces an administrative hearing next week to determine if it can keep its rainbow intersection.
Whatever lawmakers’ intentions, this summer FDOT said the state had adopted new rules that required that roads and crosswalks be painted just black and white. In a statement, the agency said it conducted a “months-long” update of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices with input from representatives of state and local governments.
The update included a prohibition on “non-uniform” traffic control devices and explicitly “prohibits the application of pavement or surface art on travel lanes, paved shoulders, intersections, crosswalks or sidewalks.”
The agency did not answer questions on whether public hearings were held on those changes.
Heidi Simon, director of thriving communities for Smart Growth America, said if road safety is the true concern, Florida’s focus is misplaced.
“We know what is killing people, things like lack of visibility, increased speed, increased vehicle size,” she said.
Pedestrian crossing along Orange Blossom Trail, North of Holden Avenue, on Friday, July 19, 2024. The improvements include a raised crosswalk, pedestrian-activated flashing lights and a fence dividing the median of OBT. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/ Orlando Sentinel)
FDOT’s efforts would be better directed toward ensuring crosswalks are well-marked, have adequate lighting and include curb extensions that reduce the crossing distance for pedestrians, Simon said. Some dangerous roads don’t have crosswalks at all, Simon added.
FDOT has worked with Central Florida officials to make those sorts of changes along South Orange Blossom Trail and Alafaya Trail near the University of Central Florida, and the data suggests pedestrian safety have been greatly enhanced.
“FDOT knows where crashes are taking place and where people are dying,” she said. “I think their resources need to go to the places where the most devastation is currently happening to stop it and to reverse it.”
Anthony Man of the South Florida Sun Sentinel contributed to this story.
