John Coffelt, Editor

Traffic heading to Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival saw a strong spike Thursday morning, but had tapered off to a consistent stream as of midmorning as approximately 70,000 people travel to the annual festival ending June 18 in Manchester.     

Manchester Police Capt. Keith Hendrix said traffic was going pretty well so far this year. 

“We had a big rush a little earlier, and it’s calming down now,” Hendrix said. 

Hendrix was stationed Thursday morning near the MPD command post on the I-24 off ramp/Ragsdale Road, main route into Bonnaroo.

The air-conditioned converted RV functions as a home away from home for the department – shelter from the sun and heat for breaks or in the event a festivalgoer is overwhelmed by the heat.  

Hendrix said that the only big difference in the department’s coverage since the city’s annexation of the property is that officers are working inside the gates in addition to providing traffic control.

“We have had to split our resources in half to have half inside and half outside answering calls and directing traffic,” Hendrix said.

There are six officers working outside the gates, two on traffic at the exit.

“It’s a little bit of a bind, but after this many years, we’re kinda used to it,” he said.

This is also the first full-sized crowd to attend the festival since TDOT closed the temporary gate, “Exit 112,” directly from I-24.

Hendrix said closure is preventing bottlenecks on the interstate and recognized the reasoning behind TDOT’s move.

Bonnaroo will continue through Sunday night when Foo Fighters close out the event with a set scheduled for 9:30-11:15 p.m.

Follow our Bonnaroo coverage on manchestertimes.com and Manchester Time’s social media accounts.   

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.