The Wild Sum Washington D.C. Is Paying To Buy Out This Infamous Wendy's

There's an intersection in DC that, per NPR Congressional Correspondent Kelsey Snell, takes like 12 traffic lights and 26 turns to go straight through (via Twitter). It's an intersection, which is deserving, apparently, of a cameo in an Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick (via Twitter). The unfortunate result of a city planner in 1791 who just "gave up" according to biographer Scott W. Berg (as quoted in Echo-PIlot), Dave Thomas Circle is what Washingtonian calls a "triangular homage to the Prince of Darkness." On a disastrous first date, Washington Post reporter Jacob Bogage got turned around at the infamous intersection and ended up returning his love interest 8 hours later. "Her roommates thought she'd been abducted," Bogage recounted over Twitter.

In the middle of this Schwarzenegger-worthy, devil-loving intersection, there's a Wendy's. If you happen to be reading this story in 2022, then you can change the last sentence to the past-tense. Because Washington DC has agreed to pay an ungodly sum of money to buy the fast-food location out.

It's not only about how Dave Thomas Circle seems to be the literal antichrist in the collective imagination of Washington D.C.'s residents. It's also about how dangerous it is. Attorney Conor Shaw recounted to The Washington Post that "We've witnessed a lot of violent crashes there... There was even a car that went straight into the dining area of the restaurant." It's these kinds of accidents that make Dave Thomas Circle one of the 10 most dangerous intersections in D.C. In 2017, 70,000 vehicles were forced to transit the intersection, and its sizeable risk-factors each day (via Echo-Pilot).

"Almost every Washingtonian has their own Dave Thomas Circle horror story," said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in a press release explaining the city's decision to buy out Wendy's. That's why, according to court papers described by Bisnow, the city is prepared to pay owners of the soon-to-be-demolished fast-food chain a whopping $13.1 million for the right to demolish its restaurant (via D.C. Eater). For a little bit of Wendy's-centric perspective, $13.1 million is enough to purchase around 13.1 million classic vanilla or chocolate Frostys.