Vice Mayor Nick Pavlis and City of Knoxville Engineering and Office of Redevelopment staff will hold a public meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at regarding the proposed design plans for Sevier Ave. bike lanes. The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. at South Knoxville Elementary School, 801 Sevier Ave.

City traffic engineers at a Sept. 22 public meeting will present a plan for adding two bike lanes – one eastbound and one westbound – along a 0.8-mile stretch of Sevier Avenue from the Gay Street Bridge to Anita Drive in the Old Sevier neighborhood. 

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, will present the proposed restriping plan at the Sept. 22 meeting. 

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.

Anyone needing a disability accommodation to attend the meeting should contact the City’s ADA Coordinator, Stephanie Cook, at [email protected] or 865-215-2034. For an English interpreter, contact Joshalyn Hundley, Title VI Coordinator, at 865.215.3867 or at [email protected].