I was at the Franklin Downtown Partnership meetings years ago when the decision was made to improve the economic environment and bring our downtown back to life. This was no small task but a major plan for improvements requested, was funded by a State Grant written by our Director of Town Planning at the time, Carol Harper.
The major concern for businesses was that 75% or more of the traffic on the one way setup went down main street just to continue onto Rte 140. It has been a high volume, high speed and weaving raceway. So now all that traffic stays on Rte 140, reducing the volume and speed of traffic on Main St. Making it safer for all.
The fire station was another major consideration. The ability to take a left out of the station takes critical minutes off of response times. We should all be happy about no more unnecessary delays to emergencies.
The third major concern was to improve the safety of walking on Main St, where weaving through lanes and not paying attention to pedestrians is significantly reduced or eliminated.
Lastly, but most importantly was to improve the economic climate in downtown by attracting development and reinvestment in our community.
Get to know who is owning/operating these businesses.
It's a big change and controversy was expected, but now the streets work like all the other streets in the community and surrounding towns. Out of towners won't have an issue with the changes because now the traffic flow is normal.
There are many that will have comments and opinions which is fine.
For me, I drove down Main St from the Town Common and parked right in front of the business that I wanted to go to. No triangle and lights to go around. That was so easy and took much less time.
I'm very proud of all the hard work this team has done over the years to make this vital economic and logistics change for our town. There are some very dedicated town administration people who have been on this project for years and yes, it was a successful start to the change. GOOD JOB! Improving the timing of the lights is in process. Be patient.
If we all just follow the rules of the road, all will be well in Franklin. Stay on your side of the road, stop at stop signs and lights. The finish work is still going on, so please keep an open mind.This was shared from her Facebook posting to the "All About Franklin" group
New construction is in process to bring even more businesses to downtown. Let's all help to support them and have a thriving downtown area.
So we didn't set out to change to two way traffic. We set out to revitalize our downtown. This change was needed to accomplish several goals and hopefully will be a lasting improvement for all.
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| new traffic flow in downtown Franklin |
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