Design work will soon begin on a new 2-mile greenway in East Knoxville that will connect Harriet Tubman Park with the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum.

The greenway will skirt Austin Homes and Vine Magnet Middle School on the western end. It will cross through Dr. Walter Hardy Park and the heart of the Five Points community before crossing Williams Creek and connecting with the Botanical Garden trails to the east.

“This greenway will be a game-changer,” Mayor Indya Kincannon said. “It will connect destinations and give East Knoxville residents a new healthy way to safely navigate the city. Multi-modal amenities like this make Knoxville more equitable and more sustainable.” 

Mayor Kincannon and City Council have committed $5 million to build the East Knox Greenway.

The project was initially approved in 2019, but the original federal grant funding didn’t cover the majority of the cost. So Tuesday evening (March 23, 2021), Council voted unanimously to support the Mayor’s request to amend the agreement with the Tennessee Department of Transportation to increase funding to nearly $5 million.

Almost $4 million is being funded federally and administered through TDOT. The City’s contribution will be 20 percent of the cost, or $988,054.

Detailed design work is scheduled to start later this spring, to be followed by public meetings to gather input from residents. Once the path of the greenway is determined, right-of-way acquisition will be the next-to-last step, with construction currently anticipated to begin in spring 2024.