City of Franklin details $45.8M McEwen Drive reconstruction; Players Mill closure expected

City of Franklin officials told residents at a town-hall meeting that the city has awarded a contract to rebuild McEwen Drive, funded in large part by federal grants, and that construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in March with an expected three-year timeline.

City Administrator Eric Stuckey said the work “is an important east west connection across our community, but ultimately across the county,” and described ongoing efforts to increase grant funding to stretch local dollars. Stuckey said roughly $30 million of the project’s funding has come from federal grants; he and other staff described the full project cost in different places in the meeting as between about $45.8 million and $47 million.

The city’s project manager, David Hodgett, told residents “this is gonna be a long project. A lot of details. There will be some inconvenience,” and urged people to use the project website for updates. Hodgett said crews will maintain traffic on the existing roadway for much of the work, but the existing road will be reconfigured into a multiuse trail in places and some side streets will be fully closed during reconstruction.

Project scope and schedule - The work covers McEwen Drive from the roundabout near McKay’s Mill to Wilson Pike and will add additional lanes, medians and turn lanes as well as a 12-foot multimodal path on the south side between the roundabout and Wilson Pike. - The city described a three-year contract timeline. Officials said the contractor will produce a detailed phasing and schedule at a…