Florida DOT guidance prohibits street art on state roads; governor says localities must comply

Florida's Department of Transportation issued guidance reminding jurisdictions that markings on state roads — including painted messages described as "street art" — are not allowed, and Governor Ron DeSantis said local governments must follow the state standard.

DeSantis said the guidance implements a recent change in law prohibiting certain roadway markings. He described the guidance as statewide and said it was not targeted at a single political viewpoint. "The Department of Transportation put out guidance recently a couple months ago reminding everybody," DeSantis said, adding that state roads are covered by the guidance and local governments "have to follow the state standard." He said his staff can provide the DOT memo and cited Jared Perdue at FDOT as the author of the guidance.

Why it matters: The governor framed the DOT guidance as an implementation of statutory direction and said some localities (DeSantis named Key West and Delray Beach as jurisdictions that had resisted) would need to comply. He told reporters localities can "do it the easy way or the hard way," urging adherence to the guidance.

Scope and enforcement: DeSantis said the law was passed unanimously in the Florida Senate and signed into law, and that the DOT guidance cites the statute; he said the state would enforce the standard on state roads. He acknowledged some local roads may be operated differently and said the state will "see" how those situations play out.

Ending: The governor said the state will "abide by the law" and that his office will provide the DOT memo to reporters on request. No specific enforcement actions or penalties were announced at the press conference.