Blog: City Blog

Stadium Update, October Gallery: Steel Girders Going Up, 5,000 CY of Concrete, 'Spaghetti Junction'

Courtesy, Denark Construction: Aerial view of the stadium construction site, taken by a drone on Oct. 4, 2023

What a difference a few months make. Seemingly all of a sudden, what had been a flat construction site is now vertical, and the outlines of a multi-use stadium - dugouts! steel framing! - are starting to form.

See major construction progress in these October photos (below) of the publicly owned stadium that will straddle the decades-vacant no man's land between Downtown, the Old City and East Knoxville, connecting them and creating new economic opportunities for nearby neighbors and property owners.

This is the second in an ongoing series of updates on the construction of the City- and County-owned stadium, to be presented regularly by the City Communications Department.

Tons of Concrete

About 5,000 cubic yards of concrete have been poured - not half of the total yet, but a sizeable portion.

Much of the concrete went into constructing retaining walls and thick foundation slabs.

But some of the concrete has gone toward creating amenities that baseball fans will easily recognize. The stadium wall behind home plate and the home dugout are clearly visible.

Walkway heading from the dugout to the locker room

Future Smokies baseball team home dugout

How much concrete is 5,000 cubic yards? A cement mixer truck carries about 10 CY, so imagine a fleet of 500 trucks pouring their loads.

'Spaghetti Junction'

The electrical room has been constructed. Pictured here is the circuitry before it was enclosed - a sight that Barry Brooke, the Sports Authority's construction representative, nicknamed "Spaghetti Junction."

"Spaghetti Junction," fall 2023

"Literally, this is the equipment and circuitry that takes the main current and distributes it throughout the stadium," Brooke said.

An average house has a capacity of about 200 amps; a large house, 300 amps.

The stadium? Its electrical capacity will be roughly 20 times that size.

Steel girders going up

Maybe the most impressive aspect, at least from the vantage point of the nearby Hall of Fame Drive bridge, is how quickly steel girders are going up.

The steel framing for the stadium is expected to be completed in just two to three months.

Steel framing for the stadium is expected to be in place by the end of the year.

Steel girders being assembled on the northern end of the stadium last week

Posted by evreeland On 12 October, 2023 at 4:02 PM