Foggy Bottom Street in South Knoxville will close this week for construction of the Sevier Avenue roundabout as a long-running streetscape project faces yet another delay.
The $19.2 million project is now expected to be completed in spring 2027, after construction began in early 2025 with an anticipated 18-month timeline
. The latest delay comes after city officials said in January crews still needed about a year to finish the work.The delay, according to an update from the city, will provide time for crews to complete drainage work and widen the roundabout to provide more space for large commercial trucks to travel smoothly through the intersection.
"Commercial traffic has increased dramatically in recent years, as new businesses and thousands
of residents have relocated to the Sevier Avenue corridor," the update said.
The roundabout being built at the intersection of Foggy Bottom Street, Island Home Avenue and Sevier Avenue sits between industrial businesses that rely on commercial truck traffic, such as Holston Gases and Allied Toyotalift. The construction also is happening alongside popular dining, drinking and shopping destinations like South Coast Pizza, Fly by Night and Mood Ring Vintage.
A planned 225-unit luxury apartment complex nearby was recently approved for the Kerbela Shriners site, eventually adding more construction and future residents to a corridor already transformed by residential projects such as City South and South Banks at Suttree Landing.
Beginning this week, the closure of Foggy Bottom Street will turn the temporary four-way stop at the intersection into a three-way intersection as work on the roundabout moves into its next phase.
Foggy Bottom Street is likely to remain closed until the end of 2026, city spokesperson Eric Vreeland told Knox News in an email.
Sevier Avenue has remained open throughout the project, but drivers and pedestrians have navigated lane closures, detours and delays since early 2025, at times with flaggers directing traffic through a single lane.
Sophia Tiedge is the growth and transformation reporter with Knox News. Email: sophia.tiedge@knoxnews.com
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Traffic pattern shifting as Sevier Avenue street work faces another delay
