CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — If you've ever driven down Needmore Road in Clarksville, you know the intersection with Whitfield Road has a lot of traffic. So city engineers installed the community's first public roundabout.
But they couldn't have predicted what would come next.
'Help, help me Rhonda'
Anticipation about the new roundabout, both for and against the project, has inspired local online news outlet ClarksvilleNow.com to publish several stories.
"This is the first public roundabout we’ve had in the city," said Chris Smith, Editor-in-Chief for ClarksvilleNow.
It's important to note a vast majority of local drivers know exactly what to do when they get to the roundabout. But there have been a few completely and utterly confused. Video captured on a live stream camera near the roundabout depicts one car turning left into oncoming traffic, evidently confused by the painted directions on the road.
But that's not the only thing turning heads.
"There’s a Facebook page that opened to document all this," Smith said.
For one, people have given the traffic feature a name — Rhonda the Roundabout. In turn, that has spurred on memes and wisecracks. Someone even officially made "Rhonda the Roundabout" an official location on Google Maps.
David King created the Facebook page. So what inspired the move?
"Honestly I was just driving with my family talking about Gary the Guardrail, and how it was catchy then later on I saw how much talk was on Facebook about the roundabout and just joking around said, 'We should name it.' The name Rhonda was catchy and flowed. Several other people agreed so I ran to make a page called Rhonda the roundabout as a joke really, and now it has quickly evolved into a local moral booster," King said.
Social media users have developed roundabout inspired playlists. Someone even created an original song, that appears to be AI generated, about the famed traffic feature. One stretch of the lyrics read, "Folks call her Rhonda, a twist and a turn. A puzzle to solve, a place to learn. Rhonda the Roundabout, spinning us around. Everyone's confused, driving up and down."
But perhaps the biggest spectacle is what some are calling the "Rhonda 500."
"So there’s the red truck," said Chris Smith, as he shows us a video of a truck doing consecutive laps around the rotary. "They sped up the footage so you can see his 21 laps."
Various drivers, with far too much time on their hands, have been trying to clock the most laps around Rhonda. One driver in a flatbed truck started doing laps early in the afternoon. As of the publishing of this story, he's still driving in circles. Evidently, he's taking the 500 laps literally.
You can watch the live stream for yourself here.
Chris Smith said as long as it stays safe and in good fun, giving people a reason to smile makes this a good news story to make the rounds.
"It’s a nice break from the more heavy news going on out there," he said.
Clearing up confusion
Because of some of the confusion on how to use the roundabout, Clarksville's Street Department Director David Smith said they've added some additional signage in the concrete islands to illustrate the pattern of the roundabout.
"It is important to note that these pavement markings are temporary, as the full pattern is not yet complete. There are a few extra lanes to add prior to the final markings being installed," wrote Smith in an email to NewsChannel 5.
Even though there have been some close calls, Smith points out that Clarksville Police has not reported any accidents at the rotary yet.
The roundabout went ahead and opened before it was completely finished because nearby Glenellen Elementary went back to school this week.
"The work schedule and site is significantly impacted by school traffic, so it was important for our contractor Parchman Construction to make a big push this summer and get the pattern at least partially opened prior to the school year. Despite weather delays and the like, they met the mark," said Smith.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Chris.Davis@NewsChannel5.com.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
