Blog: City Blog

Ijams River Landing, Knoxville's First ADA Accessible Dock, Open to Public Use

The City of Knoxville, Ijams Nature Center, and Catalyst Sports celebrated the opening of Knoxville’s first ADA accessible Ijams River Landing this past Wednesday, Dec. 14.

The new amenity will allow paddlers of all abilities to have the opportunity to experience nature from Knoxville’s arguably greatest natural resource: its rivers.

Accessible features supplement the dock, including a seat for loading into a watercraft, a dock surface with rollers and hand rails to easily slide watercraft into and out of the water, and a ramp that rests below the water’s surface.

A roughly $50,000 project funded mostly by the City of Knoxville and managed by Ijams Nature Center, Ijams River Landing will bring an entirely new level of adaptive recreation to Ijams.

Ijams plans tot partner with Catalyst Sports to provide adaptive programming using the dock beginning in 2017.

Ribbon Cutting

Mayor Madeline Rogero cuts ribbon with City Council members George Wallace and Finbarr Saunders; Bo Townsend, Executive Director of Ijams; and Leslie King of Catalyst Sports.

Future programming with the new river dock is planned to include environmental education, which will include an education space adjacent to the dock. Ijams Nature Center has already purchased two adaptive kayaks to support anyone interested in adaptive paddling.

The river dock will be available to the public for free and rentals will be available during peak hours of the warmer months. No motorized boats will be permitted.

Ijams River Landing can be accessed from Island Home Avenue by turning onto a gravel path adjacent to a trail known to Ijams Nature Center frequenters as the “River Trail” located across the street from Mead’s Quarry. (There’s a new Ijams River Landing entrance sign that you can’t miss.)

Ijams River Landing Map

For more information, visit www.ijams.org.

Photos provided by Kelly Mules.

Posted by On 16 December, 2016 at 5:11 PM