Better Connecting Downtown Knoxville

Date: 07/02/2010

As the new transit center on the Church Avenue viaduct is being readied to come on line and the renovation of the Hill Ave viaduct moves towards completion the City of Knoxville along with Knoxville Area Transit & the Transportation Planning Organization have developed a complimentary use plan that incorporates these two important corridors and enhances connectivity to the waterfront.

Currently the Church Avenue viaduct is scheduled to have two through lanes and short term parking regulated by meters. There will also be a trolley pull out and a commercial loading zone on the transit center side of the viaduct. Original plans had called for placing bike lanes on the viaduct but the concern of guiding bicyclist into heavy vehicle traffic and the need for short term parking and other amenities to support the new facility brought about the need for revisiting the plan.

Fortunately the Hill Avenue viaduct is being renovated this summer and a new surface and striping plan will be implemented upon completion. With the new plan it will have two through lanes for automobiles and the same for bicycles. To accomplish this all parking must be removed from the bridge. While this will inconvenience some who have traditionally used this bridge for long term parking, a new parking lot is being built just east of the viaduct which will replace most of the spaces being removed from the bridge.

This new parking lot has been designed as a long needed accessible entrance to Gateway Village and Volunteer Landing. The lot will be connected to the current elevator that takes visitors down to the waterfront level of downtown and the Hill Avenue viaduct to the CBID.  There will be 16 spaces available with landscaping and decorative lighting that will be open to the public. City Council approved the contract for construction of this lot at its June 29th meeting and construction should begin this summer.

Taken together these projects will enhance multimodal connectivity between the Hall of Fame corridor, the CBID and the waterfront. More short term parking will become available as long term parking continues to move toward structures designed for that purpose.

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