Downtown Knoxville is on the inside and the end of the barrel is plugged with concrete.

With Gay St. blocked until 2007 to be humped up & ditched out plus Summit Hill Bridge closed until September 2007, businesses close, I fear.  East of the Old City isn't just isolated, coming from the west you can't get  into the Old City by Jackson Ave. either.

Forget how do you get to downtown, how do you get out? Read the official instructions from the TDOT site.

    *  Bridge detour- Take Central Street to Willow Avenue to Patton Street.
    * To downtown- From James White Parkway take the Cumberland Avenue exit to Gay Street to Summit Hill Drive.
    * From downtown- Take Summit Hill Drive to Locust Street to Clinch Avenue to Henley Street to access the tunnel and any direction of the Interstate.

The road industry/chamber wants driving easy and parking easier so they close all known connections to downtown. For what? For an 18 month re-do. 

Why? Because it's just what we need? Planning inertia?  Or back the profit motive. Just enough time to shake out the market. I can see it across 12 lanes of traffic, Tumbleweeds in the Old City! The award winning interstate entertainment district!

Old news.

In my despair over feelings of futility, the one thing I hope for is a quick successful population of the growing condo-honeycomb. If you were living there, you'd eventually be stuck by the concrete industry convention going on in the arterial barrels of downtown. Like a snow day for months, it could be a good party.

The best is yet to come:

James White Parkway closed for 10 months beginning December 2006. The Church Street Bridge is scheduled to be closed for 10 months beginning December 1, 2006. Interstate 40 is scheduled to be closed (to through traffic) for 14 months beginning May 2008.

Coming tomorrow! Photos of bridges we fixed a few years ago being blown up!