Dallas City Council member Chad West wants the city to ask Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa to revisit the state order that wiped out 30 decorative crosswalks across Dallas this spring, including the rainbow crosswalks on Cedar Springs Road in Oak Lawn. West made the request in a memo to City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, NBC 5 reported on November 12.
The timing is the story. Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the crackdown in October 2025, and Hinojosa defeated him on November 3. A new governor can change a governor’s directive. She cannot, on her own, rewrite the traffic manual that the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) used to deny Dallas an exception, and Republicans still hold a majority in the Legislature. So West’s memo opens a door. It does not guarantee anything.
For the merchants, nonprofits and neighbors who paid for these crosswalks, the practical step is to get organized before January, not after. The city’s own records show that every non-standard crosswalk was privately funded, which means any restoration will need new private money, a design the state will accept and a city request on file. The groups that move first will shape what comes back.
What West Is Asking For
West represents District 1 in North Oak Cliff. His memo asks Tolbert to contact Hinojosa’s office and request that the incoming administration reconsider the statewide directive requiring removal of what the state called political ideologies from Texas streets. It is not clear yet whether the city will make that request, or whether the new administration will take it up.
West made the case in personal terms, writing that a little bit of paint might feel insignificant to some but can go a long way toward making people feel welcome:
“Like many members of our LGBT community, I felt welcome the very first time I saw these rainbow crosswalks on Cedar Springs,” West wrote.
How Dallas Lost 30 Crosswalks
The sequence ran about six months from order to removal.
- October 8, 2025: Abbott directed TxDOT to make cities follow federal and state roadway guidelines, and TxDOT told Dallas its decorative markings did not meet the Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), the rulebook for signs and pavement markings
- November 2025: Dallas asked for an exception covering 12 intersections in Oak Lawn, Uptown and Oak Cliff
- January 15, 2026: TxDOT denied the request
- January 30, 2026: the city filed a plan to comply within 90 days
- March 23, 2026: crews began removing the crosswalks, starting in Oak Lawn
Abbott’s office said cities that refused could lose state and federal road funding and their agreements with TxDOT. That threat, more than the paint itself, is what made the decision for City Hall.
The March 20 city memo laid out the scope. NBC 5 reported that the 30 crosswalks included 10 multicolored crosswalks on Cedar Springs Road, 16 lettered crosswalks at four intersections along Al Lipscomb Way and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and four individually designed crosswalks on Mahon Street and Lemmon and McKinney avenues.
Who paid for them
The city told the state that it installs standard crosswalks and that private groups pay for anything decorative. The Oak Lawn rainbow crosswalks grew out of a 2019 fundraiser started by the North Texas LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce, with help from the Cedar Springs Merchants Association and others.
That detail matters for anyone hoping to see them return. The paint is gone, and so is the money that bought it.
What a New Governor Can and Cannot Change
Hinojosa takes office in January as Texas’ first Latina governor and the first Democrat in the job since Ann Richards. She can withdraw Abbott’s directive. That would remove the instruction that pushed TxDOT to act.
The harder part is the rulebook. TxDOT denied Dallas’ exception under the Texas MUTCD, and its standard for exceptions is a demonstrated public safety benefit or a compelling justification. Abbott’s order also leaned on federal guidelines, which a governor does not control. A Republican-led Legislature could step in as well.
So the realistic path is not a simple reversal. It is a new request from Dallas, under new direction from Austin, with designs that TxDOT can approve.
Our Read
West’s memo is a smart, low-cost move with a long road ahead of it.
Oak Lawn has already shown what it will do without the crosswalks. After the removals, neighbors raised money to paint the steps outside the Oak Lawn Library in rainbow colors, and the steps were unveiled in June. That project sits on property the city controls, outside TxDOT’s reach. It may turn out to be the more durable answer.
The city’s Office of Arts and Culture has also been studying how peer cities mark neighborhood identity without pavement paint. Public art on plazas, steps and buildings sits outside the pavement-marking rules. Walkable, recognizable districts are good for business, and Dallas business leaders named walkability among their top priorities for downtown in D CEO’s 2027 Dallas 500.
What To Do Next
If you own a business or lead a group in Oak Lawn, Uptown or Oak Cliff, a few steps make sense now:
- Tell your council member whether you support a request to the incoming administration
- Talk with the Cedar Springs Merchants Association and the North Texas LGBTQ Chamber about funding
- Ask the Office of Arts and Culture which public art options are already approved
- Expect any restored design to go through TxDOT review, so plan for time
Portal of Dallas will follow the city’s response to West’s memo and any word from the incoming administration. Businesses in these neighborhoods can also list in the Portal of Dallas business directory at no cost.