Curious about the Washington Pike improvement project? This meeting will fill you in

A huge new improvement project is coming to Washington Pike. Knoxville recently got approval to begin purchasing land for $17 million redesign to the busy stretch between Interstate 640 and Murphy Road.

The city plans to add turn lanes and correct accident-prone intersections.

Now it's your turn to weigh in. A public input session is scheduled for 6 p.m. May 29 at the New Harvest Park Community Building, 4775 New Harvest Lane.

Knoxville City Councilwoman Lauren Rider, who represents North Knoxville and the Washington Pike redevelopment zone, advocated for the meeting when the funds to purchase land were approved Feb. 7 Because this project has been talked about for years, Rider said residents might not be aware it was moving forward.

"The next steps are to have a public meeting so that the people that own those parcels (of land the city will purchase) and affected community members will get to meet consultants," Rider said.

The city hired an outside consulting firm to run land acquisition, and they'll be present at the public meeting.

The last public meeting on Washington Pike improvements was in 2022. City officials said that between then and now, the project was tied up with the U.S. Department of Transportation. After initial meetings yielded feedback in 2022, the city had to go through the federal government to make revisions.

Washington Pike will stay at five lanes on the western end of the project area, where Greenway Drive ties in near the Knoxville North Target. The street would narrow to three lanes by New Harvest Lane, then expand back to five lanes, including a turn lane, at Steeple Shadow Way and Babelay Road and continue on in that configuration to the city limits at Murphy Road.

At that point, turn lanes would carry traffic onto Murphy or Pullman roads, and Washington Pike to the east would continue in its current two lanes.

Allie Feinberg reports on politics for Knox News. Email her: allie.feinberg@knoxnewsws.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @alliefeinberg.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Washington Pike construction in Knoxville: Public meeting set