KCDC: $1.7 million grant helping make Western Heights safer for pedestrians

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — A $1.7 million grant is helping Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation improve pedestrian access around the Western Heights and Beaumont neighborhoods.

With the funds, KCDC will install five signalized crosswalks around Beaumont Magnet Academy and Western Heights Head Start and make improvements to the intersection at Reed Street and Oldham Avenue, near where a new park is planned for the neighborhood.

The grant will also be used to increase Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programming at Beaumont. SRTS works to promote safety strategies like Walking School Buses or bike trains, where teachers or other adult volunteers accompany children as they walk or bike to and from school.

“This grant funding will help in our mission to create safe and walkable communities,” KCDC Executive Director and CEO Ben Bentley said. “We’re excited to see these areas transformed into accessible neighborhoods where families can walk or bike safely to school and play.”

The $1,709,400 grant , which is a part of the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program, was requested as part of the Transforming Western Plan and the City of Knoxville Vision Zero Plan , which aims to eliminate all traffic fatalities on city-controlled roads by 2040. SS4A, managed by the U.S. Department of Transportation , aims to make streets safer and prevent crashes. The city of Knoxville has revived grants from the program in the past, with an $8 million grant in 2023 and $17.8 million in 2024 to help improve safety along Chapman Highway.

Transforming Western, which broke ground in 2023, will see nearly 200 units of affordable housing rebuilt and 283 new units of affordable and market-rate housing built. According to the KCDC, more than $220 million in public and private funds have been committed to supporting the redevelopment plan.

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