The closure this week of McEwen Drive between Carothers Parkway and Turning Wheel Drive means headaches for drivers on the east side of the city, but officials said the road's widening is just one project to ease congestion across the city.The project is less than one-mile in length and when finished in approximately one-year will provide a four-lane median divided highway into one of Franklin's fastest growing residential areas.
But in the interim, it means some twists and turns for commuters and residents in that area as they abandon the familiar route of the two-lane, narrow country lane that was once known as Liberty Road.
"In terms of traffic, cars, etc., that is the big project," said Eric Gardner, Franklin city engineer said of the project, of which the state is paying 40 percent of the costs.
"It is one of those projects the Board of Mayor and Aldermen has made a priority and we have been working to get it to this point for some time," Gardner said. "It is definitely making a change. A lot of traffic that came from McKay's Mill that turned on Turning Wheel Lane is now going to have to go all the way to Carothers and then up to McEwen."
The new McEwen interchange with Interstate 65 -- completed as part of an agreement with the state of Tennessee and Nissan North America to bring their corporate headquarters here from California -- draws not just Franklin residents as a point of entry for northbound traffic, but those from further reaches of eastern Williamson and Rutherford counties.
Those drivers may also have encountered another project on the eastern end of McEwen where it intersects with Wilson Pike. On Feb. 23, the city installed all-way stop controls at the intersection of Wilson Pike and McEwen Drive.
While the measure addresses citizen concerns about the congestion and hazard of entering Wilson Pike -- a state route -- from McEwen Drive, it is also an interim fix until Williamson County officials install a traffic light at the intersection as part of $1 million in road improvements related to construction of the Clovercroft Elementary School, set to open this fall.
"The overall timing of the intersection didn't improve," Gardner said, "but the vehicles that were on McEwen and backed up almost to Avalon, that has really helped because everyone has to stop and take a turn.
"This is short-term," he said. "The next step is the county as part of the site plan approval for the school, will install a traffic signal. The city, as part of our agreement, has started design of that intersection and not only will it have a signal, but turn lanes as well."
Left unimproved at this point will be the section of McEwen Drive between Turning Wheel Lane and Wilson Pike, which will continue to twist and turn with the thousands of cars that travel it every day.
The city announced last week a new traffic signal timing pattern for the traffic signal timing settings for 12 intersections on Murfreesboro Road Highway 96 East) from Eddy Lane to Clovercroft Road and three intersections on Royal Oaks Boulevard from Lakeview Drive to Centre Point Place.
The intent of the timing change is to improve the traffic commutes and reduce delays along these corridors.
With added lanes at the Murfreesboro and Royal Oaks intersection and also at the Murfreesboro and northbound I-65 ramp intersection, the new timings should facilitate traffic flow through these corridors, officials said.
"First and foremost, with the interstate under construction, that has everything thrown out of whack," Gardner said. "It is hard to say how these projects are affecting these other roads."
RPM Transportation Consultants conducted a corridor study to develop the timing pattern, which has short-term, mid-term and long-term study conditions, Gardner said, as well as investigating traffic needs for the morning, mid-day and afternoon peak demand periods.
"Typically on a corridor study like this it is the major road...that is going to be given a little more time," Gardner said when asked how best to approach the northbound on-ramp of Interstate 65 and Murfreesboro Road.
A side effect of the Interstate 65 widening has been more cars on other north/south corridors, such as Lewisburg Pike and Columbia Avenue, both of which are also state roads.
"When we discussed the Major Thoroughfare Plan with the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and the Planning Commission, a lot of the board did not want to see widening inside the (Mack Hatcher) loop...and use Mack Hatcher to distribute that traffic around."
Gardner expects the work on the northeast quadrant of Mack Hatcher, from Franklin Road to Murfreesboro Road, to have a bid opening by Tennessee Department of Transportation officials as early as September. That would see the road widened to four lanes in those segments, similar to Mack Hatcher from Franklin Road to Hillsboro Road.
The next segment will be the northwest segment that will extend from Hillsboro Road to Highway 96 West and Gardner said he has been told bids will be opened by TDOT in December.
His best advice for circumnavigating the many work zones in place, both because of TDOT projects as well as those under way by the city?
"When you have existing roads you are making improvements to, people just have to be patient, especially with the interstate, because it is designed to carry most of the north/south traffic," he said.
