On Wednesday, Austin Transportation and Public Works crews moved in with grinders and fresh paint, quietly removing several eye-catching crosswalks after federal transportation officials told the city that certain study sites had to be returned to standard striping. The work wiped out rainbow and faux-brick designs at a handful of intersections that had become familiar pieces of the city's public-art landscape. City staff said some of the colorful markings will simply be allowed to fade, while others will be repainted in plain white so Austin stays in line with federal and state roadway rules.
Which crossings were affected
Crews took out the rainbow crossing at Manor Road and Leona Street, the rainbow crossing at Morrow and Watson, and the brick-pattern crossing at Pedernales and Webberville, as reported by the Austin American-Statesman. According to the city's Oct. 24, 2025 memo and its attached inventory, those three sites went in during October 2024 as part of an FHWA-linked pilot, and staff had already flagged them for removal once the study period wrapped up.
Federal and state directives behind the removals
The clean-up job traces back to federal SAFE ROADS guidance and a TxDOT letter sent last fall warning local jurisdictions to fix decorative pavement markings or risk losing state and federal transportation dollars, as reported by The Texas Tribune. Richard Mendoza, director of Austin Transportation and Public Works, wrote that “FHWA provided notification of the termination of the experiment, which included direction to restore the sites to their previous conditions,” according to the Austin American-Statesman.
City's inventory and exception plans
In response, Austin's Transportation and Public Works department put together a full inventory of color-treated road markings and told council that the City Traffic Engineer would submit an exception request to TxDOT for locations that can show a safety benefit or other compelling justification, according to the Oct. 24 memo. The inventory lists a wide range of artistic treatments around the city, including the “TEXAS” mural near UT and various neighborhood-painted traffic circles, and staff said each site will get a case-by-case review rather than a blanket ruling.
Legal and funding stakes
TxDOT's October directive warned that leaving non-compliant installations in place could lead to the withholding or denial of state and federal transportation funding, a financial pressure point that has already pushed other Texas cities to remove similar markings, according to The Texas Tribune. Austin officials said that the combination of funding leverage and federal guidance was a key factor in the decision to pull out the FHWA-linked study sites this week.
What's next
City staff says they will let the FHWA study markings fade where that is allowed and will convert or repaint crossings that must be brought up to federal standards, Austin Transportation and Public Works told KUT. Advocates and neighborhood groups have already signaled they may push for exceptions or for different ways to highlight community history. Whether those efforts will shift the stance of state or federal agencies is still an open question.
