Knoxify

As oth­ers have noted (see here, here and here), the Buck Karnes (Alcoa High­way) bridge pedes­trian lane is open. At 12 feet wide, it offers plenty of room for bike and foot traf­fic along with some great views of the Ten­nessee River. This lane is part of a larger plan to con­nect the Knox and Blount County Greenways.

In order to test it out, your faith­ful Knox­ify reporter started at 6am on the Third Creek Trail by way of the old Bi-Lo park­ing lot between Suther­land and Kingston. Save for a cou­ple of walk­ers and 60 or so geese (be care­ful rid­ing past the mama geese as they like to pro­tect their babies), our ride was fairly uneventful.

To access the new lane, we con­tin­ued down the Ney­land Green­way past the UT Exper­i­men­tal Gar­dens and the Vet­eri­nary School. After cross­ing the exit ramp, we made a sharp right to ascend to the bridge. (Make sure you stay alert at the cor­ner of the Vet School and the off ramp from Alcoa High­way as cur­rently there are no cross­walk sig­nals.) We stopped on the mid­dle of the bridge to admire the view of the river as morn­ing rush hour traf­fic whizzed by.

Cur­rently, the trail ends on the south side of the river. How­ever, the next phase of the Knox/Blount Green­way is set to begin soon. I’m look­ing for­ward to the day I can write about bik­ing on the green­way from Knoxville to Alcoa to Maryville to Townsend and beyond.