The city of Knoxville is testing out vehicle-free weekends on one if its busiest downtown streets.
The test pilot was launched last weekend and will close off Gay Street, from Wall Avenue to Union, to all cars. This means no vehicles will be able to drive or park along those streets; it will only be open to pedestrians. The program will help city officials decide if they should implement this on a regular basis or potentially add more streets.
Mayor Kincannon said in a statement that opening up Gay St. to pedestrians it’ll create another community space like Market Square.
This is similar to what Nashville does with Broadway St. during the weekends.
The next car-free weekends will be on the following dates:
- November 17-18
- December 8-9
- December 15-16
Closures are in place from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m.
