The project scope was to develop a landscape plan for the City of Knoxville right-of-way along Alcoa Highway from Woodson Drive to Maloney Road.

This project followed the ETCDC’s ongoing work with LHNA to impact the new road design for Alcoa Highway. In 2015, the ETCDC and neighborhood stakeholders including Gene Burr and Kathy Proctor met with officials from the TN Department of Transportation (TDOT) to review the Alcoa Highway plans that had been developed in the early 2000s.  The team requested widening all proposed overpass bridges to allow for pedestrian and bike access and adding an auxiliary business frontage road to the east and west sides of the existing commercial area to improve safety. TDOT incorporated the team’s input into the final road design. Construction on this section of Alcoa Highway began in 2019 and is to be completed in the summer of 2021.

A conceptual landscape plan was prepared for specific zones focusing on right-of-way within the City of Knoxville. Example roundabout landscape plans were developed for the Montlake Drive and Maloney Road interchanges that could be implemented at other future roundabouts. Landscape plans were also developed for adjacent areas near the roundabouts and the areas along the three overpass bridge abutments. These plans highlight 14.45 acres of the landscaped area not including potential reforestation areas. Reducing the required maintenance was a requirement of the proposed design.  The meadow seed mix is prosed to cover large swaths of land to beautify and limit mowing to twice a year.