Danged If You Don't, Danged If You Do: Franklin Road Rehab (And Delays) May Begin This Summer

BRENTWOOD, TN — Expect three years of back-ups and congestion on more than two miles of Franklin Road starting this summer, as Brentwood has decided to swallow the bitter pill of delays to improve traffic flow on the city's most important north-south thoroughfare.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation is expected to bid the estimated $37 million project next month with construction expected to begin later in the summer. The project will widen Franklin Road from West Concord to Moores Lane from two lines to five, including a center shared-left turn lane. It will also add curbs, gutters and a bike and walking path.

The City of Brentwood paid for $800,000 in engineering design costs and $3 million for rights-of-way. There is a small section of the road in Franklin. The City of Franklin has agreed to acquire the necessary rights-of-way there.

The project will alleviate congestion on Franklin Road, often used as an alternate route when accidents snarl traffic on Interstate 65. But, in the meantime, motorists will have to contend with back-ups on the back-up road.

"It'll feel like a war zone. The two big issues will be maintaining traffic flow. You'll have construction zone speed limits lower than they are today (and) there will be narrower lanes. So while there will still be two lanes, it won't flow with the same capacity it has today," City Manager Kirk Bednar said, according to The Tennessean. "You'll have some impact on businesses at the south end and on neighborhoods on the north end. Between the bumps and barricades and you name it...it wears on people."

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