Blog: State Street Garage Blog

Downtown Parking Tip Sheet: Nov. 9

Here’s the latest in a weekly blog series from the City’s communication team to help you anticipate downtown events and plan where to park.

Last Friday (Nov. 3) was a busy evening downtown, with First Friday and UT Homecoming celebrations. It created a challenging trial run for visitors encountering for the first time the trifecta of reduced parking availability in State Street Garage, the new parking space counters and a detour.

Good news: This weekend should be a little less hectic, even with a home football game. And the Parkopedia free app, showing available parking spaces in real time at all City-owned garages, is now up and running. Read more about how to use that app to your best parking advantage here.

These downtown parking growing pains are due to the State Street Garage expansion project that will add 570 parking spaces. During construction, this popular parking destination for downtown visitors will fill up fast, hence the sensors and displays installed in the State Street, Locust Street, Market Square and Main Street garages to help visitors decide whether there’s a spot available or they want to take their chances.

The block of South Central Street between Union and Clinch avenues remains closed, detouring travelers uphill on Union to the four-way stop at State Street. Starting this weekend, the traffic pattern at State Street will be two-way, allowing southbound travelers to continue on State to Clinch, where they can turn west toward Gay or east back onto Central.

Avoid the detour and traffic pattern alterations altogether by taking Hall of Fame Drive to Hill Avenue or Gay Street to Dwight Kessel Garage, First Presbyterian Church, etc. Another bypass idea to reach the south side of downtown is to take Neyland Drive to Walnut Street to Hill Avenue.

This weekend:

Friday: The weekend kicks off early with a celebration of our military veterans: the 93rd Annual Veterans Day Parade lines up at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum and steps off toward Gay Street at 10:45 a.m. Eastbound lanes of Howard Baker Jr. Avenue will be closed to traffic from 8-11:30 a.m., as well as Gay Street and parts of other streets that feed into Gay – Union, Market, Clinch, Walnut. Traffic on Summit Hill will also be stopped to let the parade pass around 11:15 a.m. All roads and on-street parking spaces will reopen by 1 p.m.

Outlaw country rocker Cody Jinks performs to a capacity crowd at the Tennessee Theatre.

At the Knoxville Civic Coliseum, the Knoxville Ice Bears play the Macon Mayhem Military at 7:35 p.m. And next door at the Auditorium, Darren Knight presents his Southern Momma an ‘Em Comedy Tour at 8 p.m. Parking at the garages on Howard Baker Jr. Avenue is available for a fee.

The Bijou Theatre is hosting four performances of Mozart’s comedic opera The Secret Gardener by the University of Tennessee Opera Theatre on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Be aware that KUB work on the electric distribution system will close Cumberland Avenue between South Gay Street and Walnut Street overnight between 6 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday. Vehicles may enter the pay lot next to the Bijou from Cumberland but not exit onto Cumberland due to the closure; parkers will need to exit onto Church Avenue, where there is also an entrance to the lot. Free parking is available nearby at the Dwight Kessel Garage located on the corner of East Hill and State Street.

Saturday: Market Square Farmers’ Market is 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. on Market Square. The last MSFM of the season is Nov. 17, followed by the first of four Holiday Markets on Dec. 1. As ever, parking in the Market Square Garage fills up fast on market days, but there should be spaces available in nearby Locust Street and Langley garages.

Percussionist Adam Lion joins host Sean McCullough for KidStuff Live, 10-11 a.m. at the Knoxville Visitor Center and broadcast on WDVX FM and WDVX.com.

The Old City Market returns to Jackson Avenue in the Old City from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. for shopping at multiple local pop-up vendors set up in the block of Jackson between Central and State (closed to cars 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.). Free parking is available in the city lot under James White Parkway, accessible from both Jackson and Willow avenues, but remember that Patton between Jackson and Willow is closed until at least Nov. 21 for the installation of a water main.

The UT Vols play Kentucky at Neyland Stadium at 3:30 p.m.

Sunday: Besides the Mozart opera at the Bijou Theatre, downtown is pretty quiet as far as big events go. In addition to City-owned garages, most metered parking spaces are also free.

Upcoming in the week:

Monday: Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra performs at the Tennessee Theatre at 7 p.m.

Tuesday: Knoxville Jazz Orchestra performs “Nursery Rhymes Reimagined” at the Bijou Theatre at 8 p.m.

Wednesday: Songwriter and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac) performs at the Bijou Theatre. Kenyan guitarist J.S. Ondara, who moved to Minneapolis from Nairobi five years ago because it was Bob Dylan’s hometown, opens the show at 8 p.m.

Posted by ptravis On 09 November, 2018 at 12:03 PM