Property owners on Cumberland Avenue possess a lot of great retail and culinary expertise. Need Vol attire? Looking for a mouth-watering meal after class, or after a University of Tennessee game? The Cumberland Avenue merchants are the pros.

But when it comes to knowing exactly what to expect during the $17 million two-year Cumberland Avenue reconstruction, merchants and other stakeholders turn to the City of Knoxville and its construction engineering consulting contractor, Vaughn & Melton, for assistance.

A new brochure explains in step-by-step detail the eight-week process for building in each block of Cumberland new curbs and sidewalks and for installing state-of-the-art Silva Cells - hundreds of underground tree-root boxes, or structural frames, that help urban trees to flourish by supporting the weight of the new sidewalks without compressing the soil.

"The 'What to Expect' brochures are helpful in communicating to merchants specifically how the public right-of-way near their property will be transformed in the coming months," said Anne Wallace, the City's Deputy Director of Redevelopment.

"The brochures also lay out a timeline for how long each step in the two-month-long installation process is likely to take, with photographs showing the 'before,' 'during' and 'after' results. It's a good communication tool that helps the Cumberland business owners better plan for and understand the construction."

You can download a PDF of the brochure by clicking here: WhatToExpect.pdf.

This week, crews are working on curbs, gutters and Silva Cell installation in the 2000 block of Cumberland Avenue.

The infrastructure upgrades are part of the City of Knoxville’s $17 million Cumberland Avenue reconstruction, to be completed by August 2017.

The reconstruction will change the existing four-lane Cumberland between 22nd and 17th streets to a three-lane cross section with a raised median and left-turn lanes at intersections. An earlier phase of work on the western end of Cumberland focused on improving traffic flow between the Alcoa Highway ramps and 22nd Street; that phase finished at the end of 2015, on time and under budget.

The City’s investment in infrastructure and streetscape upgrades will create a more attractive, safer, pedestrian-friendly Cumberland Avenue Corridor.

Needing information about lane closures? Visit www.CumberlandConnect.com, or check the Cumberland Connect Facebook page, facebook.com/CumberlandConnect. Better yet, download the Cumberland Connect phone app, or text VFL to 313131 to get text messages on the most current traffic updates.