A Knoxville News Sentinel article earlier this week confirmed that the State Street Garage is on pace to be completed in August, which was the original target date. Of course, Rick Emmett maintains a blog for the city that regularly updates progress on the project. The news for this week is that the aerial cross-walk will be opened to the public today.
As fate would have it, I took a look last weekend and noticed how far the project had come and, of course, I had my camera.
The new level is in place, though it is not lined for parking. It looks huge and considering that it increases the number of spots by about 30%, it is pretty big. The garage originally had 840 spaces and when this 6.1 million dollar project is complete, that number should be around 1,080, give or take a few. Since 700 are sold as monthly parking, this gives a better margin for the visitors.
The cross walk will actually be open for a few weeks at which time it will close briefly to be covered with glass, which will be nice for people who park and cross in the rain. An elevator also must be installed, so there is still work to be done.
The prospect of new views sparked my interest. Parking garages are often great places for photographs and with a new level, photographs that could not be made unless the photographer is skilled at levitation, become possible for mere mortals.
While I wouldn’t say that the views changed dramatically or even that the views are amazing from this vantage, interesting aspects of the city are visible. First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery are visible through the trees. I really liked the angles of the large tree spreading out over the lines of the church.
One of the shots is from the new walkway, though I hope no one will tell the city I was out there early. It offers a good view of the addition to the Tennessee Theater. To the south east, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, as well as the mountains become visible. The photograph I used earlier this week of the Knoxville Transportation Center came from this same outing.
Maybe this weekend when you are walking your biscuits off this might be a good place to see for yourself. Walk across that cross walk and see what you think. No, it’s not as cool as an outdoor escalator, but it is nice and it’s far more practical.