The first large section of the long-planned Knox Blount Greenway officially opened Tuesday.
The new $1.65 million section is two miles long, beginning at the south side of the J.E. "Buck" Karnes Bridge and ending at Knox County's Marine Park. It passes the University of Tennessee's practice golf course and Cherokee Farms research campus.
The plans are to build greenway connections that would take users all the way to Townsend and into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
"This is just the starting point for the overall vision and we just hope this is a catalyst for how to do regional greenway planning and how to get multiple municipalities on board to start chipping away at that vision and making it a reality," said Lori Goerlich, Knoxville Greenways Coordinator.
The next goal is to help Knox County complete its two-mile section. That project will come from TDOT as it overhauls Alcoa Highway, a road-widening project that's been in the works for years.
