<p>An extension of Brookhaven Drive in Franklin has been long-awaited by residents who want a quicker path to U.S. 31 that avoids the semi-truck route and a trail that connects them to the rest of the city.</p>
<p>The city has opened the new road that connects the Heritage subdivision off Hurricane Road to Commerce Parkway, just south of Direct Shot Distributing. Along the north side of the road is a new trail that ties into the city’s trail system.</p>
<p>Students can bike to Franklin Community High School. Residents can walk to Starbucks. Families can avoid the semi-truck route when leaving their neighborhood and shave precious minutes off their morning route to drop children at schools and get to work.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
<p>The road extends about one-third of a mile along the edge of a cornfield and a tree line and was an initiative of Mayor Steve Barnett, who wanted to provide a way for residents to avoid roundabout construction on the truck route, truck traffic overall and improve transportation in the city. The work cost $918,000 and was completed in two months.</p>
<p>The project is just part of what is a record-setting year for roadwork in Franklin, with $18 million being invested and more than 50 percent of it being paid for with state or federal tax dollars.</p>
<p>The next task is to make sure that drivers follow the 30 mph speed limit on the new road and stop at the stop sign as soon as they enter the neighborhood, and to make sure semis don’t start cutting through the neighborhood.</p>
<p>“It won’t be a drag strip, and the police are here to make sure of that,” Barnett said, noting that the police department would be patrolling the area.</p>
<p>Residents and city officials gathered on Wednesday to celebrate the project’s completion.</p>
<p>Franklin resident Jeannie Rupe has lived in the neighborhood for 14 years, and will use the new road to get her five children to school. In the past, she has waited through the multiple stops in the neighborhood, then gone north to Earlywood Drive to get to Franklin Community High School.</p>
<p>“I’ve been waiting forever,” Rupe said. “I’m very optimistic about the road and excited to use it.”</p>
<p>The new road is important to the city, Barnett said, because it improves transportation and safety. In the coming weeks, street lights will be installed.</p>
<p>“It’s not only a sidewalk to Starbucks, but it’s a sidewalk all the way to the high school,” said John Walters, president of the neighborhood’s homeowner’s association.</p>
<p>Now, his son can get to school without being in the street, and families can enjoy the trail loop that this addition creates. Drivers will no longer get behind concrete trucks or semis on the truck route that aren’t sure of where they are headed, Walters said.</p>
