JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Once vibrant painted streets in Jacksonville are now just black roadways after the city completed its efforts to repaint several crosswalks to comply with state requirements.
The city originally had until Thursday to have six noncompliant locations removed, but said in a statement that the Florida Department of Transportation moved the deadline to Monday.
The move came after FDOT ordered cities to remove “non-standard surface markings” or risk losing state funding.
As of Sunday, Jacksonville’s colorful crosswalks were all wiped out when the remaining two in San Marco and Five Points were repainted.
“The city of Jacksonville’s public works department completed the Springfield crosswalks on Friday. FDOT moved up the deadline provided to the city from Thursday, September 4 to Labor Day, that’s Sept 1. With the late change, an FDOT crew completed the remaining crosswalks over the weekend,” the city said in a statement to News4JAX.
Madison Mayerlen was disappointed to see the rainbow crosswalk in 5 Points removed.
“It’s really upsetting. I feel this was a safe space for LGBTQ+. It’s a crosswalk. It doesn’t hurt anybody,” Mayerlen said.
In response to the change, people began filling in the now blank spaces with chalk to voice their opposition.
“It was a spark of joy, now it’s gone,” Mayerlen said.
The city described the change as a “perplexing reversal,” citing a Bloomberg study that revealed a 50% reduction in crashes due to painted streets.
Mayor Donna Deegan stressed that while the city is complying with the directive, there are plans to keep the art flowing through Jacksonville.
“We are going to comply because we have to comply,” Deegan said. “We are an inclusive community that wants everybody to feel welcome. We’ll make sure that we talk to some local artists and maybe get some art up on a building nearby that’s private property and not on a public street.”
Wade Richards, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, said the removal of the rainbow crosswalk mural in Five Points saddens him.
“This is a reflection of our community, and it’s not just an art piece; it’s also a statement that we as a community are loving and supporting and we recognize the LGBTQ+ community,” Richards said.
The six locations in Jacksonville that were repainted included:
- The intersection of West of Lomax Street and Oak Street (one crosswalk)
- The intersection of Lomax Street between Park Street and Oak Street (one crosswalk)
- The intersection of Lomax Street and Margaret Street (one crosswalk)
- The intersection of Children’s Way and San Marco Boulevard (all pavement art and crosswalk)
- The intersection of 9th Street W and Pearl Street N (all crosswalks)
- The intersection of Milnor Street near Richard L Brown Elementary School (one crosswalk)
According to the city, the art at the intersection of Children’s Way and San Marco Boulevard cost more than $82,000 to paint.
It cost $22,000 total to repaint the roadway art at all locations. That does not include security at each site, the city noted.
Richards said they could the money could be used for fixing other things like potholes.
“I literally just got a flat tire last week by hitting one,” Richards said.