The Clinch Avenue Viaduct spanning World’s Fair Park will be closed for up to eight days, starting Monday, July 20 – part of a $2.7 million infrastructure upgrade that will improve the experience of pedestrians approaching World’s Fair Park and the Knoxville Convention Center from two sides.
The temporary closure of the Clinch Avenue bridge accommodates a step in the construction of a new pedestrian walkway and canopy that will connect the Convention Center with the Holiday Inn and new Tennessean hotel development. Cranes will be setting in place 70-foot and 40-foot sections of the canopy.
From July 20 until Monday, July 27, weather permitting, the Clinch Avenue Viaduct will be closed to through traffic (vehicles and pedestrians) from the Holiday Inn World’s Fair Park entrance on the east end of the bridge to World’s Fair Park Drive on the west end of the bridge. Crews will be working between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., but due to the use of large equipment, the area will remain closed 24 hours a day.
The entrance to the Holiday Inn will not be blocked at Clinch Avenue, so guests and staff can still access the hotel from Henley Street.
From July 28 through the end of August, the Clinch Ave Viaduct will be open to through traffic with limited lane closures.
The infrastructure upgrades in the area also include a rejuvenation of the Henley Street pedestrian bridge at Clinch Avenue – adding a frosted glass roof, replacing the metal cage fencing with perforated metal panels, and adding decorative lighting.
Streetscape amenities will be added to Clinch Avenue bridge over World’s Fair Park. The three traffic lanes will be reduced to two 10-foot-wide lanes, and 5-foot-wide bicycle lanes will be added on both sides. The sidewalks on the viaduct will be widened, and planter boxes with landscaping and benches will be added to make it a better pedestrian and bicycle connector between Fort Sanders, World’s Fair Park and downtown.
Most of the work will be finished by the end of August. The lighting on the Henley Street pedestrian bridge and upgrades to the elevator tower are slated to be completed about a month later.
Next week, while the canopy is installed, KAT Bus Route 42 serving the University of Tennessee and Fort Sanders and the Vol Line trolley will be rerouted.
Route 42 outbound from Clinch Avenue heading to Fort Sanders will detour left on Henley Street, right on Cumberland Avenue, right on 11th Street and left onto Clinch to pick up the regular route. Inbound Route 42 heading into downtown will detour with a right turn on 11th, left on Cumberland, left on Henley, right on Church Avenue, right on Locust Street, left on Main Street, right on Gay Street, left on Hill Avenue, left on Hall of Fame Drive, then left on Church into Knoxville Station.
The Vol Line trolley outbound from Clinch will detour left on Henley and right on Cumberland. The inbound trolley from Cumberland will detour left on Henley, right on Church, right on Locust, left on Main, right on Gay, left on Hill, left on Hall of Fame and right on Howard Baker Jr. Avenue.