Revamping the Strip
The Cumberland Avenue Corridor Project promises to redesign the Strip with fewer lanes and bigger sidewalks. Can it work? It seems inconceivable that you could take an oft-traveled four-lane road—known almost as much for the recklessness of its motorists during off-hours as for tedious back-ups during peak flow—add a huge shopping development and a slew of new housing at the mouth of its messiest juncture, narrow it to two lanes plus a middle turning lane and expect a happy result.
But Knoxville city planners say they’ve done their homework—and that not only will the Cumberland Avenue Corridor Project change traffic patterns for the better on the University of Tennessee’s perpetually harried Strip, but it will also give that aesthetically challenged area a makeover, providing a shot in the arm for local merchants.
“What we’re working toward is a safer and more economically viable Cumberland Avenue,” says Anne Wallace, the city’s project manager in the office of redevelopment. “Cumberland Avenue doesn’t function well in its current configuration. Traffic backs up; the pedestrian experience is unpleasant. And the aesthetic appeal is poor. There are lots of areas for improvement.”
The plan dovetails with—and is arguably complicated by—the more recent announcement of the University Commons Project, a 211,000 square-foot shopping center development slated for the old Fulton Bellows brownfield industrial site between Volunteer Boulevard and Alcoa Highway. University Commons will include a Walmart and a Publix grocery as well as additional retail and parking space; and bring an estimated 6,600 additional cars to the area’s traffic flow. Cumberland’s current daily traffic count is about 30,000.
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