Feb. 19, 2025
Mayor Indya Kincannon joined the Feb. 13 meeting of the Old Sevier Merchants Association - and came with some good news.
If City Council approves the funding, the City later this year will be paving the gravel 50-vehicle parking lot on Island Home Avenue, beneath James White Parkway.
Photo from the Feb. 13 meeting of the Old Sevier Merchants Association
Vice Mayor Tommy Smith, who represents South Knoxville and has been an enthusiastic advocate for the Sevier Avenue merchants, supports the $150,000 appropriation.
The Sevier Avenue corridor has more than 600 parking spaces - albeit, some closer and more convenient than others. But paving the Island Home Avenue lot and designating parking spaces with paint will make it feel more inviting - and certainly less dusty during the summer and less muddy after rainstorms.
The parking lot is close to Printshop Beer and Mighty Mud, and just one-third of a mile to the east of the heart of the Sevier Avenue district.
The Engineering Department will be studying options for a safe pedestrian pathway connecting to the paved parking lot as the Sevier Avenue Streetscapes Project construction gets going. Stay tuned for more details as they develop.
Otherwise, work on the streetscapes project is continuing this month.
By the end of February, utility lines will be raised at Foggy Bottom Street and Sevier Avenue. The extra clearance will make it easier for work to proceed once construction starts in earnest this spring and summer for the streetscapes project.
The streetscape upgrades will include wide ADA-compliant sidewalks, new streetlights and traffic signals, upgraded utilities (relocated below ground), and a roundabout at Sevier, Foggy Bottom and Island Home Avenue.
Also this month: Anticipate Whaley Construction crews to be grubbing and cleaning the east end of the Sevier Avenue Streetscape Project construction area, near the railroad tracks.
Brush will be hauled off from the site, and once the pickup is complete, a fence to contain silt runoff will be installed at the tracks and Island Home Drive.
The last of the Phase 1 traffic control signs also will be installed.