The original artwork featured on colorful downtown Corpus Christi traffic cabinets — seemingly imperiled last week by a state directive — can stay, according to officials.
The large metal boxes house traffic control equipment and are situated on sidewalks — and, in Corpus Christi, are well known for their hand-painted images spanning a wide variety of themes, from luchadores and bright Coastal Bend scenes to Whataburger homages and multicolored cats.
It had been thought that there may be a mandate for removal under a Safe Roads initiative that, in part, limits road surface markings and signage.
Texas state Reps. Todd Hunter and Denise Villalobos, along with state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, confirmed Oct. 28 that removal isn’t required under the current directive, following discussions with the Texas Department of Transportation.
It represents a “tremendous outcome,” Villalobos said.
“I think there was probably miscommunication in the beginning of what needed to be addressed through the initiative, and the city was trying to take quick action to resolve (it),” she said. “But luckily the community spoke up and challenged that directive and got true clarification, saving the murals and the electrical boxes from being painted over.”
The development was received as good news by the Corpus Christi Downtown Management District.
In a message to the Caller-Times, DMD Executive Director Arlene Medrano wrote that the district was grateful to both the community and legislative delegation, whom she described as “standing with us and supporting the preservation of public art in downtown Corpus Christi.”
The road initiative
Earlier this month, Gov. Greg Abbott had announced that TxDOT was to enforce compliance with federal and state traffic safety guidelines.
Under those guidelines, there is a prohibition on “non-standard surface markings, signage, and signals that do not directly support traffic control or safety,” a press release stated, including using “symbols, flags, or other markings conveying social, political, or ideological messages.”
Declining to do so could threaten federal and state road funding, according to Abbott’s Oct. 8 announcement.
Those instructions, which had given officials of Texas cities and counties a 30-day period to comply, captured statewide attention in large part because of the ordered removal of a rainbow crosswalk in Houston.
Locally, the directive had initially been interpreted to mean that three of the city’s artistic crosswalks — as well as the traffic cabinets, located on sidewalks — required removal, according to an Oct. 23 city memo.
The removals were initially slated to begin Oct. 27 but had been delayed following discussions on potential exemptions.
The traffic cabinets
Commissioned artists painted the traffic cabinets downtown — the unique touches to the infrastructure mapped out on the Corpus Christi Downtown Management District’s website.
The program serves several purposes, including beautification, revitalization and graffiti deterrence, Medrano said.
“It’s culturally significant,” she said. “We engage local artists, and this is an opportunity for them to showcase their art and foster civic pride. … Walking throughout downtown, it definitely gives you a sense of place.”
There had also been concern that a newly installed mural may be subject to the Safe Roads initiative, although that was ultimately determined not to be the case, according to officials.
The mural, titled “Windows into the Coastal Bend,” was painted by muralists and community participants on the retaining wall that runs along South Chaparral Street, Medrano said.
It includes 50 panels depicting icon features and painted in a style to look like stained glass, she said.
The crosswalks
The fate of three of Corpus Christi’s artistically designed crosswalks — those located at Six Points, on the Peoples Street T-Head, and at Twigg Street and North Shoreline Boulevard — remains a question.
The crosswalks at Six Points are patterned with a blue-and-white design intended to evoke the bay, while the blue-and-green crosswalk that extends over North Shoreline Boulevard is meant to be symbolic of the relationship between the city and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
The original installation and subsequent removal of the crosswalks is estimated at about $35,000, City Manager Peter Zanoni wrote in an Oct. 24 message to the Caller-Times.
The city would have the option of requesting an exemption from TxDOT.
An exception requires “written approval from TxDOT’s Traffic Safety Division, based on a demonstrated public safety benefit or compelling justification,” according to a letter provided to the Caller-Times by the state agency.
It was not immediately clear the evening of Oct. 28 whether the city would request exemptions for the crosswalks.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Will Corpus Christi’s downtown art stay? Here’s what state legislators said.
Reporting by Kirsten Crow, Corpus Christi Caller Times / Corpus Christi Caller Times
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