The Broadway Corridor Task Force, East Tennessee Community Design Center, Mayor Madeline Rogero and City of Knoxville staff will present the Broadway Corridor Enhancement Plan at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 1 at St. James Episcopal Church Fellowship Hall, 1101 N. Broadway.

North Broadway has potential to become a highly successful corridor connecting Downtown Knoxville to Fountain City. It has valuable assets such as long-standing businesses and strong neighborhoods. However, its current streetscape could be improved to benefit businesses, customers, and residents. The Broadway Corridor Enhancement Plan analyzes existing conditions, assesses shortcomings, and develops demonstrative solutions that can be implemented throughout the corridor and other urban corridors throughout Knoxville. 

The Broadway Corridor Task Force (BCTF) was established in early 2014 to consider ways to improve the Broadway Corridor (Fifth Avenue to I-640) for businesses as well as adjacent residential neighborhoods. The group is comprised of representatives from the North Knoxville Business and Professional Association, as well as the six major neighborhoods on this section of Broadway – Belle Morris Community Organization, Edgewood Park Neighborhood Association, Fairmont Emoriland Neighborhood Association, Historic Fourth & Gill Neighborhood Organization, Historic Old North Knoxville, and Oakwood Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association.

In 2015, the BCTF asked the East Tennessee Community Design Center (ETCDC) to assist in developing a Broadway Corridor Enhancement Plan to address the challenges and enhance the assets of the corridor, and to provide a vision of how the corridor might look and function with the right amount of public and private investment. ETCDC performed this work with support from the City of Knoxville’s Community Development Department. There is currently no funding committed to the plan, but it is intended to help shape future investment in the area.

ETCDC, BCTF, and City staff worked together to organize a design charrette in November of 2015 to gather ideas on corridor improvements from businesses, property owners, institutions, and neighborhoods along the corridor. The resulting Broadway Corridor Enhancement Plan focuses on one representative section of Broadway from the Hall of Fame interchange to Branson Avenue. The conceptual plan will be presented at the meeting for public comment and input.