Intended to provide a greenway connection from downtown Knoxville into Blount County along the Alcoa Highway corridor, the Knox-Blount Greenway was initially conceived of decades ago. In 2003, planning for the greenway began in earnest, and by 2010, easements with the University of Tennessee had been secured for two major sections of the greenway.
When the project began in the early 2000’s, planners had hoped to complete the project in just two phases. Phase I of the greenway (from the Neyland Greenway across the Buck-Karns bridge and south to Marie Park) was constructed by the City of Knoxville and opened in 2015. Phase II would carry the greenway from Marine Park on to the Blount County line making connections to Maloney Road Park and IC King Park along the way.
With large portions of the phase II corridor forced into close proximity with Alcoa Highway by the railroad and river, Phase II had to be stalled for several years while TDOT completed its plans for Alcoa Highway’s conversion to a limited access road. As a result of that planning TDOT incorporated construction for much of Phase II into the Alcoa Highway project as seen in the map below.
TDOT’s Piece 1 will extend the greenway from Marine Park to the Alcoa Way Shopping Center while Piece 2 will pick up at UT Farm Roads and carry the greenway south to the Blount County line including an underpass connection to IC King Park.
This project will construct approximately 0.6 miles of greenway to partially fill the gap left by TDOT between the Alcoa Way Shopping Center and UT Farm Roads.
Additional funding and a future project will be required to connect Maloney Road Park to the Alcoa Way shopping center and complete the Knox-Blount Greenway.