When Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer first announced a rainbow crosswalk would be installed outside of Pulse, a gay nightclub and mass shooting site, in 2017, the city had to go through a procedural process of asking the state Department of Transportation for a permit to do so.
Orange Avenue, one of the intersecting roadways of the crosswalk, is a state-operated road, after all. And as Orlando Weekly reported at the time, the Florida Department of Transportation approved the city permit that year, seemingly with no fuss.
The city of Orlando itself fronted $2,900 for that crosswalk, a city spokesperson confirmed, which for years served as the city’s only interim memorial for the 49 victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting and a community left devastated and traumatized in its wake.
As part of a larger Orange Avenue Improvement Project that kicked off last year, FDOT however did contribute state funds to help repaint the rainbow crosswalk outside Pulse — then suddenly, again using state funds, painted over the rainbow colors in the middle of the night last Wednesday.
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The Orange Avenue Improvement Project, running from Gore Street down to Grant Street on the southern end and from Magnolia Avenue to Rollins Street up north, cost upward of $10 million, according to FDOT, most of which was fronted by the state.
“Approximately $10.72M came from state funding for the Orange Avenue Improvement Project,” a city of Orlando spokesperson shared over email this week. “The city contributed $1.7M from its Neighborhood Improvement Districts funds for safety improvements and MetroPlan Orlando contributed $1.5M to the project.”
A presentation from the Florida Department of Transportation providing an overview of the South Orange Avenue project includes mention of “coordination” with the “Pulse memorial,” including “decorative crosswalks,” “pedestrian lighting” and a “decorative sidewalk.”
The state agency, however, changed its policy on crosswalks this year, and under state law, local governments must comply. In addition to the Pulse crosswalk, FDOT has similarly ordered the city to remove more than a dozen other decorative crosswalks, per the Orlando Sentinel. The agency did not respond to a request for comment from Orlando Weekly on why they seemed to have no problem paying to have their crews repaint the rainbow colors last year, as they now claim it is a safety issue.
It’s unclear how much state money actually went toward repainting the Pulse crosswalk last year, specifically. But Andrea Otero, a public information manager for the city of Orlando, confirmed that both city and state road crews were part of its glow-up.
A 2022 Bloomberg study found that public roadway art, including art on crosswalks, contributed to a 50 percent decline in the rate of crashes involving pedestrians and a 37 percent decline in the rate of crashes causing injury. “Though asphalt art projects frequently include specific roadway safety improvements, the art itself is often also intended to improve safety by increasing visibility of pedestrian spaces and crosswalks, promoting a more walkable public realm, and encouraging drivers to slow down and be more alert for pedestrians and cyclists, the most vulnerable users of the road,” analysts wrote.
A crosswalk caught in the crosshairs
A FDOT spokesperson last week did tell Orlando Weekly that the agency’s paint job to get rid of the rainbow colors was due to a change in state and federal policy, and to ensure Florida’s roadways “are not utilized for social, political, or ideological interests.”
“Earlier this year, the Department completed a months-long process of updating the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) with input from representatives of state and local governments,” the spokesperson told us. “This update included a prohibition on non-uniform traffic control devices, such as pavement markings on state and local roads.”
The state sent a letter to city officials on June 30 to notify them of the new guidelines on roadway decorations, and FDOT claims that U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy followed their example. “Taxpayers expect their dollars to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks,” Duffy wrote on the social media platform X in a July 1 post.
Duffy — a former Fox News presenter, lobbyist, and cast member of MTV’s The Real World: Boston in 1997 — was appointed DOT secretary by President Donald Trump earlier this year. He’s expected to help carry out Trump’s anti-woke political agenda. Duffy reportedly sent letters to governors in all 50 U.S. states the day after FDOT, urging state officials to “prioritize investments that improve mobility and safety on roadways.”
FDOT claims that its change in policy for Florida roadways and crosswalks occurred “with input from representatives of state and local governments.”
The agency also acknowledged that the state recently approved nearly $400,000 in state funding to help support the construction of a permanent memorial outside of Pulse, which is expected to, in part, include a rainbow glass prism plaza.
“Transportation infrastructure is for the movement of people and goods,” the department spokesperson said. “In this case, while the crosswalk has been restored to its proper form, local efforts are underway to construct a permanent memorial on adjacent properties funded by the State of Florida. Any attempt to suggest otherwise is false.”
The crosswalk outside of the Pulse property has since been colored in with chalk by community members, who began rallying outside of the former club property Thursday night. According to media reports, FDOT crews have already repainted the crosswalk “repeatedly” to get rid of its colorful hues, seemingly unwilling to wait for Florida rain to wash it away.
FDOT did not respond to a question from us of whether repainting the rainbow crosswalk last year was worth the cost to state taxpayers, considering the paint job didn’t last long. Nor did they offer any explanation, besides to “ensure the safety” of roadways, for why they approved the crosswalk back in 2017 but reject it now.
The state’s spending on “safety” is inconsistent, to say the least. The state government budgeted just $2.4 million this year for a program intended to protect minors and farm laborers from exploitation on the job, after all. And Florida has no state agency or division to enforce health and safety regulations for working people on the job at all.
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This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2025.