CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – A traffic guardrail in north Clarksville is becoming a local celebrity, with his own Facebook page, support petition, and fans who leave him get-well balloons, following a series of wrecks that have left him repeatedly damaged and repaired.
“Gary the Guardrail” is at the corner of Trenton and Tylertown Roads adjacent to O’Connor’s Irish Pub & Grill. The narrowness of the intersection makes it difficult for large trucks to make the turn onto Tylertown without bumping into Gary.
The save Gary petition, started by North Clarksville resident Jason VanKirk, had gathered over 350 signatures as of Tuesday, April 20. It asks that the city adjust the white stop lines on Tylertown so that trucks will have more room to turn without hitting Gary.
“You just have a few drivers that seem to get confused going around there or something,” said VanKirk. “There was a couple other people that had mentioned it and were trying to get something going to get somebody to do something other than fixing the guardrail.”
But because Trenton Road is a state route (Highway 48), changes to the intersection fall under the purview of the Tennessee Department of Transportation, according to City of Clarksville spokesman Richard Stevens.
VanKirk said he was unsure of that, saying the needed changes primarily involve Tylertown Road, which falls under the city.
Kathryn Schulte, TDOT spokeswoman, said Gary has been repaired seven times in the last three years, at a total cost of just under $22,000.
“TDOT is currently working with the city on a solution,” Schulte told Clarksville Now. “When the intersection was designed, Tylertown Road wasn’t getting the amount of truck traffic that it is now. Engineers are looking into extending the culvert (provided we have enough right-of-way) to make the turn easier for tractor-trailers.”
Gaining local fame
A Gary the Guardrail Facebook page was set up last year and has accumulated over 1,800 followers.
Clarksville Now reached out to the page owner, who declined to share their identity, saying that anonymity is “part of the fun.”
Mara Kutch, a north Clarksville homeowner, said she joined the page because she was frustrated with infrastructure issues.
“It’s just something that, every time I see it, I think of the ignorance at this point,” said Kutch. “That’s what they’re doing, they’re fixing it the same way, nothing changes, and it’s the same results just a few days after it gets fixed. I think what bothers me more than anything is the money that’s going into this that could be used somewhere else.”