FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WKRN) - Franklin held its annual State of the City address Wednesday morning, talking about a wide range of topics, one of those being a widening project in the works.

Mayor Ken Moore invited city administrator Eric Stuckey onto the stage to talk about the Mack Hatcher Parkway widening project.

Stuckey showed a snapshot of Mack Hatcher during rush hour, cars bumper to bumper, which he said consistently causes frustration for Franklin residents.

The city is proposing that a portion of the 2026 budget be dedicated to funding in partnership with TDOT for widening the road from two lanes to four lanes, both Mack Hatcher Southeast and Northwest.

He says the widening will be crucial to alleviating traffic on that road, they just need to secure more funding.

"We've gotten some initial good news. Southeast has been included in the initial round of its 10-year capital program. It's not fully funded, we've got a little bit left to go, so we're still working on that. Northwest is not yet funded, there's a second round of funding, because the governor recommended up to $1 billion in additional one-time infrastructure funding," said Stuckey.

The mayor also brought up members of the police department, including Chief Deborah Faulkner, to discuss things happening at their agency.

Faulkner talked about how the department has done a lot of things to improve the internal health of the department and each individual officer. Police officers see so much on a day-to-day basis, so they have routine checks for their officers to make sure they are mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually well.

However, a new position the department just created focuses on counseling victims of crimes.

Chief Faulkner said a lot of times their officers act as counselors to victims, but having someone who is solely dedicated to that role has become essential. "A victim support counselor can provide crisis intervention and referral assistance to the victim, not just that day, but for many days and weeks and months to come, because it needs to be a continual check-in."

Another new thing for the department is updated traffic light technology that allows first responders to change red lights to green so they can get to scenes faster.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/middle-tn-neighborhood-news/franklin-state-of-the-city-address-2025/