Florida orders removal of Tampa school crosswalks it once awarded
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A Crosswalks to Classrooms crosswalk outside Forest Hills Elementary in Tampa. Photo: Yacob Reyes/Axios
Tampa officials will remove 47 street murals to comply with a state crackdown on pavement art, a city spokesperson said Monday.
- Nearly half are part of a school crosswalk art campaign that the Florida Department of Transportation awarded in 2021 for its innovation and safety.
Why it matters: The about-face raises more questions about the reasoning behind the Florida Department of Transportation's directive, which state leaders previously said was to bolster driver and pedestrian safety.
State of play: Tampa crews will begin this week to remove 47 painted intersections, crosswalks and curbs throughout the city, mobility department spokesperson Joshua Cascio said Monday.
- The list includes a "Back the Blue" mural on Madison Street that was painted by pro-police activists in 2020 and a multi-colored raised fist at the intersection of East Henderson Avenue and North Franklin Street inspired by Pride Month and Black Lives Matter.
Zoom in: The city also identified 21 crosswalks painted under Mayor Jane Castor's Crosswalks to Classrooms program, in which artists painted colorful designs on crosswalks near schools.
- The program "provides several benefits such as traffic calming, improving street safety, enhancing the livability of streets, revitalizing public spaces, and bringing communities together," per a city news release.
The intrigue: In 2021, during Gov. Ron DeSantis' first term, FDOT recognized the program with the agency's Planning Innovation of the Year award.
- "The innovative and collaborative efforts to combine public art and engineering treatments to improve school safety was truly inspiring," a state transportation official said in a city news release announcing the award.
Between the lines: Pavement art is known in transportation and planning circles as a way to catch the attention of drivers in low-speed, pedestrian-dominant areas.
- While data on the effectiveness is limited, a 2022 Bloomberg Philanthropies study analyzing 17 locations where asphalt art was installed found that crash rates decreased or didn't change at 15 locations.
- St. Petersburg officials also analyzed one of that city's street murals and found a 70% reduction in crashes when comparing the three years before and after the art was installed.
The other side: FDOT did not immediately return Axios' request for comment.
- The agency also hasn't responded to Axios' request for data that supports the assertion that street art makes roads less safe.
Threat level: Cities that don't comply with the state's order stand to lose state funding, FDOT District 7 secretary Justin Hall wrote in near-identical letters to Tampa and St. Pete officials.
What they're saying: During a news conference Monday, St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch said there was no legal avenue to challenge what he called a "politically inspired" erosion of community values, citing the potential loss of "tens of millions" of dollars in state funding.
- "As mayor of our city, I will not risk these essential investments in a fight that I don't believe we can win," he said.
What's next: Both cities have until Sept. 4 to remove the murals, Hall wrote.
- Welch also said the city is exploring other ways to express its values and encouraged residents to protest the state's actions and take photographs with the existing murals before they're gone.
- "We will build back stronger, and we will create new, even more powerful expressions of who we are," Welch said, "expressions that cannot be erased by the state."