Rainbow crosswalks annoys someone in the federal government, seriously.

Ahead of an annual L.G.B.T.Q. festival in Ames, Iowa, members of the City Council decided to liven up a pedestrian crosswalk near the downtown shopping district by painting stripes in colors evoking the gay, nonbinary and transgender pride flags.

“Who would have thought, 50 years ago, that a small town in central Iowa would be saying this: We see you, we hear you, we welcome you,” Reginald Stewart, vice president for diversity and inclusion at Iowa State University, said of the kaleidoscopic markings.

Click to expand...

But urban planning practitioners and advocates say the government’s claims that crosswalk art makes intersections less safe are not rooted in evidence.

Michael Lydon, a founder of the urban design firm Street Plans, has been working with cities and community groups to develop street art projects for almost a decade.

“The thing that gets under my skin, personally,” he said, “is that this response from FHWA is not really grounded in any data.”

Click to expand...

The Seattle Department of Transportation has installed 40 artistic crosswalks, which include rainbow stripes and geometric designs created by local artists, and has started a formal program for communities to request one.

Click to expand...