Franklin teacher urges safety changes on Meridian Boulevard near Cool Springs

Benjamin Lisky, a Franklin teacher, told the Franklin Municipal Planning Commission on March 26 that he has personally witnessed reckless speeding and occasional wrong-way driving on Meridian Boulevard in Cool Springs and urged city engineers to act to protect students and other pedestrians.

"I work here in Franklin as a teacher, and I'm here to present a concern for the safety of my students and local community," Lisky said, and presented six proposed countermeasures: wrong-way signage for east- and westbound lanes; yellow paint around medians to signal direction changes; clearer guidelines for left-turning vehicles onto Meridian; removing parking spaces near intersections (including visitor spots near 202550 Meridian); raising crosswalks; and adding transverse rumble strips on the westbound lanes near Carruthers Parkway.

The comment came during the meeting's citizen-comment portion. A staff member asked Lisky to leave contact information so the city's engineering department could collect his recommendations and follow up. "Could you leave your contact information with Katie up there, and we'll have someone from our engineering department get that list from you," the staff member said.

No formal action was taken at the March 26 meeting; staff said it would collect Lisky's suggestions and, if appropriate, refer them to engineering for review and possible design or traffic-calming measures.