SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Seminole County officials spent more than $31,000 in taxpayer money painting over bright green crosswalks after the Florida Department of Transportation ordered the county to remove the high visibility pavement markings this summer, financial records obtained by News 6 reveal.
FDOT sent a letter to the county manager Aug. 21 demanding that more than a dozen crosswalks the state agency identified as being “in violation” of new traffic control device standards be removed within two weeks.
The very next day, country records show a Seminole County employee visited a Sherwin-Williams store in Apopka to buy 75 gallons of black paint specifically designed for road use at a cost of more than $2,400.
The county employee also stopped by a Lowe’s home improvement store in Sanford to purchase nearly $800 in painting supplies including 24 sets of paint rollers, wood extension poles and plastic buckets.
Over the following two weekends, records indicate 29 county workers received more than $24,000 in regular and overtime pay to meet a Sept. 4 deadline to paint over the existing green crosswalk stripes.
The county spent several thousand more dollars using vehicles and other equipment as part of the re-painting project, documents provided to News 6 through a public record request show.
The high-visibility crosswalks, which were installed along pedestrian and bike trails last year to improve safety, were funded by a penny sales tax approved by Seminole County voters.
News 6 could not immediately determine how much the green crosswalk coating added to the county’s overall cost of improving trail crossings.
The $31,134 that records show the county spent to re-paint the crosswalks this summer is a small fraction of Seminole County’s $1.1 billion annual budget.
“While the dollar amount is little, it’s silly,” Seminole County District 4 Commissioner Amy Lockhart told News 6 in response to the crosswalk repainting cost. “It does add up.”
Lockhart noted that FDOT had previously authorized Seminole County to install the green crosswalks before the state agency altered its design standards earlier this year.
“We all want taxpayer money wisely spent, but we have to work together,” Lockhart said.
FDOT officials assert that the state agency has a duty to ensure the safety and consistency of public roadways and transportation systems.
“Earlier this year, the Department completed a months-long process of updating the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) with input from representatives of state and local governments,” an FDOT spokesperson told News 6 in August. “This update included a prohibition on non-uniform traffic control devices, such as pavement markings on state and local roads.”
FDOT officials notified local governments in June that it had authority to withhold state funds for noncompliance with the updated standards.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter to all 50 governors in July urging them to keep intersections free of political messages, artwork and any markings not directly tied to pedestrian or driver safety.
“Taxpayers expect their dollars to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks,” Duffy said in a public statement posted to social media. “Political banners have no place on public roads.”