Work will soon be getting underway on a key greenway connector in Fountain City – and ground will officially be broken on the Adair Park / Sue Clancy Greenway Extension on Wednesday, Oct. 29.

This half-mile new greenway is important because it connects Adair Park and residents living north of the Interstate 640 / Broadway intersection with neighborhoods and destinations south of Sharps Ridge.

The City invested $3 million to build or improve 3,800 linear feet of sidewalk on Old Broadway, and that project was completed last year. The aim was to provide pedestrians and bicyclists a safe detour around the dense traffic hub where Broadway and I-640 intersect.

Now, with this Adair Park / Sue Clancy Greenway Extension, thousands of nearby residents and park visitors will be able to navigate the area and avoid heavy vehicular traffic.

And within a few years, it will become even easier to commute on a bicycle all the way to and from Fountain City and downtown, using existing sidewalks and First Creek Greenway; a “missing link” new section of the greenway is getting built in front of the Broadway Shopping Center. Construction on that new section of First Creek Greenway is expected to begin next year.

The Adair Park / Sue Clancy Greenway Extension, meanwhile, will utilize or run adjacent to property owned by Knoxville Utilities Board and Berry Lynnhurst Funeral Home and Lynnhurst Cemetery. Legacy Parks Foundation negotiated easements, and the new greenway connector will be maintained by the City.

Initial work will be done in-house by City Public Service Department crews in the coming months. Underbrush will be cleared to create a 10-foot pathway along Lynnhurst Creek, and City crews will then build a packed dirt path, reinforced with small gravel.

Eventually, plans are for the connector to be paved. Upgrading the dirt-and-gravel new greenway is one of the projects prioritized in the City’s Five-Year Neighborhood Investment Plan, which would be funded by new revenues if voters decide in favor of the City of Knoxville Sales Tax Referendum on the Nov. 4 ballot.