Blog: City Blog

Stormwater Infrastructure Being Installed for Northwest Greenway Connector

Construction is well underway on the $1.6 million Northwest Greenway Connector, a key half-mile stretch of trail connecting Victor Ashe Park and Western Avenue at Ball Camp Pike.

"It's going well," said Engineering Manager Robin Tipton. "Most recently, contractor crews have been installing stormwater infrastructure on the Ball Camp Pike side."

An Adams Contracting team installs a 24-inch stormwater pipe along Ball Camp Pike.

In the coming months, a section of Ball Camp Pike between Western Avenue and Bradshaw Road will remain closed as crews with Adams Contracting build the connector and continue to install drainage infrastructure on the north side of the pike.

"We have a long way to go," Tipton said, but added that the whole project is slated for completion in spring 2022.

The Northwest Greenway Connector is an important link, because it connects the 8.9 miles of connected pedestrian options (greenways and sidewalks) around the park with another 7.2-mile network of sidewalks on Western Avenue and Schaad Road.

All told, within a three-mile radius of Victor Ashe Park, there’s a total of 73 miles of greenways and sidewalks.

Mayor Indya Kincannon has praised the Northwest Greenway Connector project as "a strategic connection" and noted that its completion will create new options for hundreds of families wishing to walk or bike to reach the park as well as workplaces, schools, churches and other destinations.

This greenway project is just the next step, not the final one, in building connectivity in Northwest Knoxville. The long-range plan is to extend the greenway southward to connect Western Avenue at the pedestrian bridge to Middlebrook Pike and on to the Third Creek Greenway.

This Phase II work, now being designed, is fully funded. The City is scheduled to solicit bids on Phase II in winter 2023, with Phase II construction starting in 2024.

Posted by evreeland On 26 August, 2021 at 10:53 PM