PHOTO VIA CITY OF DAYTONA BEACH GOVERNMENT FACEBOOK PAGE
The checkered-flag crosswalks outside Daytona International Speedway, a nod to the track’s racing heritage, will soon be gone. Speedway officials say they were ordered by the Florida Department of Transportation that the decorative patterns must be repainted to conform to new state and federal standards.
The black-and-white designs, which thousands of fans walk across during the Daytona 500 and other marquee events, were installed in 2021 as a creative way to extend the racing theme into the streetscape. At the time, Speedway president Chip Wile described them as “another way to share the racing excitement just ahead of the start of NASCAR’s season right here in its hometown of Daytona Beach.”
But state officials now say crosswalks must be uniform. FDOT Secretary Jared Perdue said his agency has flagged more than 400 locations across Florida with street art, including murals and colorful crosswalks, for review. “Pavement art is not allowed, and we are removing everything that is not compliant with state, federal standards,” he said recently at an event in Tampa.
Other communities are facing similar changes. Tampa’s “back the blue” mural is slated for removal, Orlando has been told to repaint 18 colorful crosswalks and murals downtown, and Seminole County is repainting its green pedestrian crossings to black and white. The Daytona case is among the highest profile, given the Speedway’s national visibility and the crosswalks’ role as a symbol of the city’s racing identity.
We’ve reached out to FDOT to request the costs for all of the recent crosswalk reversals, but have not received an answer. We’ve also asked if any projects will be delayed by prioritizing their removal.
