Rainbow crosswalks claimed as hazard will remain for now

A Kentucky city will keep its rainbow-colored crosswalks while it investigates why federal government officials say the gesture honoring the LGBTQ community is a safety hazard.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports Environmental Quality and Public Works Commissioner Dowell Hoskins-Squire told the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council on Tuesday that the crosswalks at a prominent downtown intersection will remain as the city conducts more research, as other cities with similar crosswalks have not received such requests for removal.

A Federal Highway Administration official sent a Nov. 13 letter to Mayor Jim Gray asking the city to remove the crosswalks, calling them distracting.

Hoskins-Squire says she has yet to send an official response to the letter. She also said there hasn’t been an uptick in accidents since the crosswalks were installed in June.