Mount Maunganui’s smiley-face roundabout vandalised and repainted

Mount Maunganui's beloved smiley face roundabout was defaced this week.

A smiley face painted on a Mount Maunganui roundabout on a contractor’s whim and embraced by the community has been defaced and painted again.

Drivers sometimes don’t treat the small, painted roundabout at Adams Ave and Maunganui Rd - outside Mount Hot Pools - as a roundabout and drive straight through.

Late last year it was painted bright yellow - with the unusual addition of a cheeky smiling face with the tongue poking out.

Tauranga City Council head of transport Nic Johansson told the Bay of Plenty Times the roundabout was meant to have been painted white.

“However, our contractor added some artistic flare instead, painting it yellow and adding a smiley face.”

The council decided to let it stay “given it was Christmas” and posed no safety issue.

“While we think it’s very creative, we have asked our contractor not to paint unauthorised patterns or colours without checking with us first.”

Johansson said his team had not received any complaints about the cheerful road marking.

The new, fresh smiley face roundabout at Mount Maunganui repainted this week.

Rather, the council had been inundated with positive feedback.

“When the smiley face originally appeared we knew there was a lot of community interest in the roundabout, so we ran a poll on our website to see if people ‘love it or loathe it’.”

He said 983 people voted, with 939 saying they “love the cheeky addition, which made the decision to keep the smile a no-brainer”.

Johansson said it made “a lot of people happy, it works, and it doesn’t compromise safety or functionality so it’s here to stay”.

Earlier this week the roundabout’s face was painted over with reddish features, ruining the original effect.

“We were disappointed for the community when we found out yesterday that someone vandalised the roundabout on Wednesday night,” Johansson said.

“We were already due to freshen up the paint, so we repainted the roundabout last night, with the smile now facing Mauao and minus the tongue.”

The council posted about the refreshed roundabout face on its Facebook page today.

While the first person to post had a dig at the traffic and “dirty” streets, others applauded the decision to keep the smile, with one saying: “Love it, need a bit more fun ideas”.