Date: Wednesday, January 9*
*please note date change
Time: 3:00 - 4:00 pm
Location: Copper Cellar, 1807 Cumberland Avenue
What: The merchants and other interested stakeholders meet to discuss items of interest or concern and ways to promote and market this district.
There will also be discussion of upcoming events and opportunities for business participation.
Parking: Available parking is located at Copper Cellar.
Hope to see you there. Bring a neighbor or a friend!
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| 2019 Meeting dates and information for Cumberland Avenue Merchants Association |
City of Knoxville Releases Report on Cumberland Avenue
We’ve
periodically been asked questions about traffic flow, statistics on collisions
and private investment along the Cumberland Avenue Corridor since the
Cumberland Avenue reconstruction project was completed in August 2017.
A detailed
report that is posted on the City’s website, prepared by the City’s
Traffic Engineering Division and the Office of Redevelopment, using Police
Department and Traffic Engineering data is available here.
Below is the Executive
Summary, but there’s a lot more information in the 50-plus-page report:
The goal of the Cumberland Avenue Corridor Project was to chart
the course for a "more attractive,
economically successful, vibrant and safe Cumberland Avenue."
This report aims to assess how
successful the City and its partners were in achieving those goals
after investing $25 million in public
funds.
Engaging extensively with stakeholders, the public, the University
of Tennessee community and media,
three key litmus tests emerged:
· Is Cumberland Avenue safer?
· Does traffic flow well?
· Has the public investment in infrastructure leveraged significant
private reinvestment in hotels,
retail, entertainment and residential housing along the corridor?
For each of these measuring sticks of whether the project was
successful, the data clearly indicates that
the City has hit its milestone goals and that the public
investment has reaped handsome rewards.
Consider:
· In the six-month period since the project was completed, Police
Department traffic crash data
shows an approximate 40 percent reduction in vehicle crashes along
the corridor. In addition, no
pedestrian or bicycle crashes with vehicles have been reported in
the same time period – a direct
result of inherent conflicts having been dramatically reduced.
· As predicted, traffic volumes are down by 5 to 21 percent at
different points throughout the
corridor. This reflects the desired effect of Cumberland Avenue
being transformed from a cut-through
route to a destination. Delays in average commute times have been
minimal overall. And
at different peak travel times, signal system optimization has
improved travel times for both
eastbound and westbound commuters by 7.5 to more than 20 percent.
· The $25 million project has leveraged more than $190 million in
private investment and brought
more than 1,400 new residents to the half-mile corridor from 17th
Street to University Commons
Way.
Based on these findings, the City is confident in stating that it
has met the goals of the Cumberland
Avenue Corridor Plan and that the implementation of the project
has been successful.
For local media coverage, visit:
WATE
