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Tree planting is final step on Cumberland Avenue

More than 90 trees will soon be planted on Cumberland Avenue, marking the final step of more than two years of construction.

Cumberland Avenue will soon look a little bit more green thanks to the addition of some new trees.

Starting at 5 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 18, crews will be planting 93 big trees up and down Cumberland Avenue, between 16th and 22nd streets.

Anne Wallace, deputy director for the Office of Redevelopment at the city of Knoxville, said this is the final step in the reconstruction process of Cumberland Avenue.

The official ribbon cutting happened in August, but the dry, warm weather caused the planting of the trees to be pushed back until December.

"The addition of trees and landscape to this area will really change how this street feels," Wallace said.

The pace of the street has changed since August as it added features, such as wider sidewalks and shorter cross sections, to become more pedestrian-friendly.

"We're seeing that folks are moving through the area, maybe at a little slower pace, but that's good because it helps to increase safety for pedestrians," Wallace said.

The trees will add extra shade for people walking on the sidewalk and will give people a view of the fall colors as they walk through on game days, Wallace said.

"It will really be spectacular to see this corridor that hasn't had a whole lot of trees in the past really have that fall foliage," she said.

The city's Urban Forestry Division selected a wide array of species of trees to be planted along the Cumberland corridor. These include round-lobed sweetgums, lacebark elms, sweetbay magnolias and greenspire little leaf linden. The 4-inch caliper trees will be 15 to 20 feet tall when planted.

Kasey Krouse, urban forester for the city of Knoxville, said it was important to diversify the tree population as much as possible to prevent any catastrophic pests or diseases from coming through and wiping out all the plants along The Strip.

Krouse also said the city planned ahead in the design to allow room for the trees to grow and mature in the future by adding structural cells under the ground.

"The larger the trees, the more bang we get for them," Krouse said, "the more shade, the more storm water reductions we have."

Krouse said the trees also have some other benefits for people in the area.

"Trees and green space actually have shown to actually increase business development in particular areas, attract people to those particular areas," Krouse added, "and not only that, we're going to have shade for the pedestrians and folks using this corridor as well."

Krouse said it will take three to four years before the trees will truly start to provide a good amount of shade, but in 15 years, Cumberland Avenue will look much different.

"Trees are one of the few assets that we actually can put in today will actually appreciate in value in time," Krouse said.

The tree planting should be finished by Dec. 21, and traffic may be impacted between 16th and 22nd streets.

According to the City of Knoxville, the public investment of $25 million in infrastructure in the Cumberland Avenue project has helped leverage more than $190 million in private investment in retail storefronts, groceries, entertainment venues, overnight lodging, restaurants and student apartments.

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