Lexington’s controversial rainbow crosswalk will remain. For now.

Lexington will keep its rainbow-colored crosswalks at a prominent downtown intersection as city officials try to determine why federal highway officials find them problematic even though similar crosswalks in other cities have not been questioned.

Environmental Quality and Public Works Commissioner Dowell Hoskins-Squire told the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council on Tuesday that the crosswalks at North Limestone and Short streets will remain for now as the city does more research.

“It appears there is some discretion across the country on how and where crosswalks like this are installed,” Hoskins-Squire said. “We are still doing some research on why it is allowed in certain places and not in Lexington.”

Hoskins-Squire said she has not yet sent an official response to a Nov. 13 letter from the Federal Highway Administration that asked the city to remove the crosswalks because they are a safety hazard.

Councilman Richard Moloney asked about the status of the crosswalks during Tuesday’s council work session.

“What are we going to do to get that back into compliance?” Moloney asked. “The last thing that I want to see is someone get into a wreck.”

Crash data at that intersection shows the colorful crosswalks, installed in June, have not caused an uptick in accidents, Hoskins-Squire said.

“We certainly want it to be safe at that intersection as well,” Hoskins-Squire said. In 2015, there were seven accidents at that intersection. In 2016, there were eight crashes.

“There has been one crash since we installed the rainbow crosswalks,” Hoskins-Squire said.

None of the crashes over the past two years at that intersection involved a fatality. Only one involved a pedestrian, and that occurred in 2016, before the colorful crosswalks were installed just before the annual Lexington Pride Festival.

The dust-up over the crosswalks started when Thomas L. Nelson Jr., administrator for the Kentucky division of the Federal Highway Administration in Frankfort, sent a two-page letter to Lexington Mayor Jim Gray that said the crosswalks don’t comply with federal highway standards.

“Allowing a non-compliant pavement marking to remain in place presents a significant liability concern for LFUCG (Lexington Fayette Urban County Government) in the event of a pedestrian/vehicle collision,” Nelson wrote. “It also creates potential confusion for motorists, pedestrians and other jurisdictions who may see these markings and install similar crosswalk treatments in their cities.”

A spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration said Nelson wrote the letter after receiving an inquiry from someone who said they were with the Lexington city government. No member of the city council or Gray’s administration has admitted to calling the federal highway administration. The person did not leave their name, federal officials told the city.

Rainbow-colored crosswalks have been added in several U.S. cities, including Seattle; Philadelphia; Atlanta; Tucson, Ariz.; and Long Beach, Calif.

Those cities have not been asked by the Federal Highway Administration to remove their colorful crosswalks, according to government officials and advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.

It is not clear what the Federal Highway Administration can do if Lexington does not remove the rainbow crosswalks.

Gray, a Democrat, was the first openly gay candidate to seek statewide office in his unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate in 2016. He is considering a possible campaign next year for the 6th Congressional District seat held by Republican incumbent Andy Barr of Lexington.

This story was originally published November 29, 2017 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Lexington’s controversial rainbow crosswalk will remain. For now.."