From 10 p.m. today (Jan. 5) until 6 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 6, Cumberland Avenue will be closed between 19th Street and Montcastle Street as a Knoxville Utilities Board crew installs water infrastructure across Cumberland.

The night-time closures will be repeated Wednesday and Thursday nights, with the work to be completed by 6 a.m. Friday, Jan. 8.

Westbound motorists will be detoured at 19th Street to Lake Avenue to 21st Street before reconnecting to Cumberland two blocks east of Volunteer Boulevard. Eastbound motorists will be detoured to 21st Street, White Avenue and 19th Street before reconnecting to Cumberland.

The infrastructure upgrade is part of Phase II of the City of Knoxville’s $17 million Cumberland Avenue reconstruction. To be completed in August 2017, the Phase II reconstruction will change the existing four-lane Cumberland between 22nd and 17th streets to a three-lane cross section with a raised median and left-turn lanes at intersections.

Phase I work on the western end of Cumberland, between the Alcoa Highway ramps and 22nd Street, is completed – on time and under budget. Improving traffic flow was a key objective of the Phase I work. A dedicated turn lane onto northbound Alcoa Highway and synchronized traffic flow at Metron Center Way have lessened decades-long issues with congestion.

Meanwhile, anticipate additional lane closures this week as crews upgrade utilities throughout the Phase II project area:

• From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today and Wednesday, Jan. 6, Progression Electric workers will be closing two lanes on 17th Street while installing mast arms for new traffic signals at the intersections at Clinch and White avenues.

• Until 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 9, a section of South 18th Street beween Cumberland and the alley north of Lake Avenue will be closed to allow crews to install an electrical duct bank.

• Through Wednesday, Jan. 6, a section of North 18th Street, from Cumberland to the alley, will be closed to accommodate work upgrading the sewer system.

There also will be street closures this month due to work on private construction projects:

• From 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 7, a Landmark Urban Construction (LUC) crew will close all lanes on 17th Street. LUC also is requesting a closure of White Avenue between 18th and 17th streets on Friday, Jan. 8, for a concrete pour. The closures are associated with construction of The Standard, a 240-plus-unit apartment complex being built on the southwest corner of 17th Street and White Avenue.

• From 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15, through 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 17, White Avenue will be closed between 20th and 21st streets, and one lane of both 20th and 21st streets will be closed between the alley and White Avenue. The closures are due to the dismantling of a tower crane being used for the construction of a new East Tennessee Children’s Hospital building.

More information is available at www.CumberlandConnect.com, on the Cumberland Connect Facebook page, facebook.com/CumberlandConnect, and on the Cumberland Connect phone app.