Duffy to governors: Cool it with the colors on crosswalks

U.S. Transportation secretary and former Northwoods congressman Sean Duffy has launched a national roadway safety initiative emphasizing investments that improve mobility and safety on roadways and reminding state governors that crosswalks are not works of art but safety tools.

In a letter to the nation’s governors this past week, Duffy urged all states to participate in the Federal Highway Administration’s Safe Arterials for Everyone through Reliable Operations and Distraction-Reducing Strategies — SAFE ROADS — initiative. 

The U.S. Department of Transportation says the program targets non-freeway arterial roads where more than half of U.S. roadway deaths occur.

In announcing the initiative, Duffy made a point of calling out intersections and crosswalks that include political messages of any nature, or artwork, or anything else that he said detracts from the core mission of driver and pedestrian safety.

“Roads are for safety, not political messages or artwork,” Duffy said. “Today I am calling on governors in every state to ensure that roadways, intersections, and crosswalks are kept free of distractions. Far too many Americans die each year to traffic fatalities to take our eye off the ball. USDOT stands ready to help communities across the country make their roads safer and easier to navigate.” 

The letter

In his written memo to governors, Duffy said safety was the U.S. Department of Transportation’s top priority. 

“While I am encouraged that the estimates of traffic fatalities for 2024 continue a downward trend, by decreasing 3.8 percent from 2023, we still have more work to do to improve safety and mobility on our nation’s highways,” Duffy wrote. “In 2024, the estimated number was a stunning 39,345. This is unacceptable. I ask that you join DOT and support our national initiative, Safe Arterials for Everyone through Reliable Operations and Distraction-Reducing Strategies (SAFE ROADS), to help improve safety and mobility, eliminate distractions, and keep people and goods moving throughout the United States.”

Duffy wrote that the U.S. Department of Transportation has strong partnerships with state departments of transportation to implement projects and achieve important national priorities, most notably safe mobility. 

“The SAFE ROADS national initiative will focus on the non-freeway arterials within your state, including safety and operation at intersections and along segments, consistent and recognizable traffic control devices including crosswalk and intersection markings, and orderly use of the right‑of‑way that is kept free from distractions,” he wrote. “These routes are where more than half of roadway fatalities in America occur and deserve enhanced attention.”

The goal of the SAFE ROADS national initiative is to partner with state and local governments to make the entire roadway right‑of‑way easier to interpret and navigate for all users, including pedestrians, vehicle operators, and automated vehicles alike, Duffy continued.

“We ask that you ensure compliance with federal statutes and regulations and accelerate the deployment of proven safety and operational solutions to make roads safer across America,” he wrote. “We are getting back to the basics — using data to guide decision-making and prioritize investments that reduce distraction while improving mobility and safety for all road users.”

Within 60 days, Duffy requested that state departments of transportation, in coordination with metropolitan planning organizations, use available safety data, analysis, and assessments to develop a list of arterial segments, including intersections, with the highest safety, operational, or compliance concerns that will be addressed by the end of fiscal year 2026. 

“FHWA will track the progress of this important nationwide initiative and stands ready to support you and your state DOT as you develop your plans,” he wrote. “FHWA offers technical resources to assist with road safety audits and assessments in selecting effective safety and operational countermeasures, accelerating implementation of improvements, and complying with federal standards, such as those for traffic control devices and use of the roadway right-of-way. With our shared goals of moving people and goods safely and efficiently, we can make the expectation that all Americans make it home safely and on-time a reality.”

Obama administration memo

Duffy’s letter echoes a Federal Highway Administration interpretation letter issued in 2013 concerning the use of colored pavement. That memo reversed an earlier embrace of colored pavement and urged deleting any art or communications in crosswalks and intersections.

“In the late 1990s, the marketplace introduced and promoted aesthetic treatments for urban streetscape environments that included the opportunity to install a range of colors and a multitude of patterns,” the 2013 Federal Highway Administration letter stated. “The most popular opportunity to implement these treatments was between the legally marked transverse lines of crosswalks. This was typically done as part of larger efforts by cities to enhance the aesthetics of an area that could include decorative luminaires, street furniture, sidewalk art, etc.”

Those crosswalk treatments were publicized and marketed as a method to increase conspicuity of the crosswalk that would translate into increased safety and a reduction of pedestrian deaths, the letter stated. 

“In December 2001, the Federal Highway Administration issued its first official ruling regarding the use of these aesthetic treatments, which concluded that crosswalk enhancements of this type had no such discernible effect on safety or crash reduction,” the memo continued.

The marketplace still looked to capitalize on advancements in pavement retroreflectivity in the mid-2000s, and further advocated for aesthetic treatments on public streets as a way to increase crosswalk visibility, the Federal Highway Administration letter stated. 

“This included the benefits of the increased recognition of crosswalks both during the day and at night since the materials were designing retroreflective properties into the aesthetic treatments,” the letter stated. “In 2004 and in 2005, the Federal Highway Administration issued two separate but related official rulings concluding that incorporating retroreflectivity into an aesthetic crosswalk treatment renders it an official traffic control device.”

Still, the agency continued, those official rulings continued to discourage implementation of such treatments and also concluded that the enhancements had no increased effect on safety or contributed to a reduction in pedestrian deaths.

“The evolution of crosswalk treatments continued into the form of ‘crosswalk art’ because it was becoming a common misconception that as long as the white transverse lines were present — thereby legally marking the crosswalk — then the agency was free to treat the interior portion of the crosswalk as it desired,” the memo stated. “In 2011, the Federal Highway Administration issued an additional official ruling that crosswalk art — defined as any freeform design to draw attention to the crosswalk — would degrade the contrast of the white transverse lines against the composition of the pavement beneath it.”

In other words, the Federal Highway Administration concluded, crosswalk art was impeding safety, not enhancing it.

“In deviating from previous official rulings on the matter that concluded an increased factor of safety and decreased number of pedestrian deaths were not evident after installation, this 2011 official ruling stated that the use of crosswalk art is actually contrary to the goal of increased safety and most likely could be a contributing factor to a false sense of security for both motorists and pedestrians,” the letter stated.

While subdued-colored aesthetic treatments between legally marked transverse crosswalk lines remained permissible so long as they were devoid of retroreflective properties and did not diminish the effectiveness of the legally required white transverse pavement markings used to establish the crosswalk, the letter stated, the colored pavement could not attempt to convey meaning or attempt communication of any message.

“All elements of pattern and color for these treatments are to be uniform, consistent, repetitive, and expected so as not to be a source of distraction,” the letter stated. “No element of the aesthetic interior treatment is to be random or unsystematic. No element of the aesthetic interior treatment can implement pictographs, symbols, multiple color arrangements, etc., or can otherwise attempt to communicate with any roadway user.”

Still, that hasn’t stopped some municipalities, including Milwaukee, where in May the city’s Department of Public Works announced that rainbow crosswalks were back at the intersection of N. Jefferson and E. Wells streets.

“Completed as part of our Paint the Pavement program, Milwaukee Pride reinstalled these inclusive rainbow designs to commemorate the endpoint of the first Milwaukee Pride March at Cathedral Square Park on June 17, 1989,” the agency stated on Facebook.

Richard Moore is the author of “Dark State” and may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.