Adam Ingle, head brewer with Alliance Brewing Co., says his microbrewery on Sevier Avenue will throw a grand opening event next month.
There's plenty of redevelopment activity along Sevier Avenue. The two latest developments: Alliance Brewing Co. has opened in a redesigned former laundromat building at 1112 Sevier Ave., and City traffic engineers are finalizing plans to add two bike lanes.
Adam Ingle, the head brewer at Alliance, is happy to give craft beer aficionados a tour of Knoxville's newest microbrewery. Right now, Alliance is serving guest taps, but look for a grand opening next month, where Alliance will proudly showcase their own beers, he says.
The owner of the building, Brett Honeycutt, has been approved for a $50,000 commercial facade grant to make further improvements to the building, which will house Three Bears Coffee and a bike shop in addition to the Alliance brewery.
The other pending Sevier Avenue improvement - bike lanes along a 0.8-mile stretch of Sevier Avenue from the Gay Street Bridge to Anita Drive in the Old Sevier neighborhood.
City traffic engineers at a Sept. 22 public meeting at South Knoxville Elementary School, 801 Sevier Ave., presented a plan for adding two bike lanes – one eastbound and one westbound. Proposed improvements would eliminate the center turn lane and upgrade the roadway to include one vehicular lane in each direction with two 5-foot-wide bike lanes.
The City’s Alternative Transportation Coordinator, Jon Livengood, presented the proposed restriping plan. The work is scheduled to be completed this fall.
With the added lanes for bicyclists, Sevier Avenue would fully function as a “complete street,” accommodating all modes of transportation. Future Streetscape improvements will provide safer walkable and bikeable streets along the South Waterfront’s commercial spine connecting South Knoxville to downtown.
This stretch of Sevier Avenue also was one of 11 streets prioritized by citizens at a May 21, 2014, public meeting when asked where they wanting bike lanes added. Last spring, City officials presented a finalized Bicycle Facilities Plan that recommended ways to create better, safer connections for bicycle riders, and the plan detailed and prioritized dozens of projects.
Neighborhood leaders and bike enthusiasts
study the plans for restriping Sevier Avenue
to create bike lanes.