Image: the roundabout of 51st and Drexel is an example of sidewalks ending abruptly.
Franklin is a very large city- it has a population of over 35,000 people! However, to many Franklin doesn’t seem like a city- especially in terms of being able to walk places. According to Wikipedia, Franklin is almost 35 square mile in area, making it one of the larger suburban areas in southeastern Wisconsin in terms of area. But it seems a car is required to get basically anywhere outside of your neighborhood. Let’s talk about sidewalks.
Many of the subdivisions here in Franklin have sidewalks, or the roads are safer to walk on due to curbs and grass. But once you’re outside of the sidewalk and on main roads like Drexel and 51st street you start to have challenges. These main roads don’t have many sidewalks– if they do, they end abruptly at or near intersections. Thus, if you want to walk somewhere, such as the grocery store, from your house, you gotta walk on the shoulder of the road next to high speed traffic.
Some roads that do have sidewalks is the stretch of 51st between the high school (near Forest Hill Ave) and Rawson. Rawson has a good stretch of sidewalk as well that ends close to 76th. Parts of Drexel near Target and Church St. has sidewalks as well that goes across the roundabout into the parking lot. I’ve never seen anyone cross over that though lately. Another adequate stretch of sidewalk is on St. Martin’s Road. Leave a comment if there’s an area I’m missing.
There’s a bonus if you live by major highways such as Loomis Road or Highway 100, it’s even more fun when people speed at 60-65 mph while you’re walking on the tiny shoulder. You stick out like a sore thumb when walking on any of the busy streets without sidewalks. Some roads aren’t friendly for walking at all. Many, such as the west, older end of Puetz Road and Forest Hill Avenue by the middle school don’t have shoulders so if you have to walk on the road you will get in the way of cars and will have to walk on the grass across yards and such. If you happen to be driving you have to avoid the plethora of potholes and bumps on these poor neglected streets.
Overall it’s just unfriendly to walk in as it seems like the city was designed around the automobile as that was the way to get around back then. But now, more and more people prefer walking and biking to driving and this town hasn’t adjusted to that newer idea. Oak Creek’s town square, for example, prioritizes walking and biking compared to using cars, but there’s lots of parking spaces available so you can get out and walk around without too much of an inconvenience since everything is nearby to each other there. If Franklin had a town center like that (perhaps the new Ballpark Commons will become that, but I don’t have high hopes. Poetic that it’s built on a landfill), this would provide better opportunities for people to get what they need without the need to drive too far. Plus, a town center with businesses all around where you walk outside is more welcoming than the generic strip mall we see far too much of in this city. Which brings me to my next topic.
Strip malls. It seems like one is on every corner. There’s the Wyndham Village on Drexel, Franklin Center on 76th, and Orchard View across from that. Farther away is the Garden Plaza on Lovers Lane, and the strip mall by 27th and Rawson. There’s probably more that I’m missing, but those are the more major ones in my opinion. In these you can find stores and fast food type restaurants, as well as Chinese restaurants in just about every one of those. It’s easier having these places close together under one roof. But in a city they just don’t look good. There’s better ways to have businesses near each other and look pretty. If they were easier to get to that would be better as well.
There are lots of solutions to this problem, but it would take just too long and too much money unfortunately. As citizens of Franklin we all play a part in its future to make it a better and more friendlier place.