(Story courtesy of WVLT)
Knoxville, TN (WVLT) Vision Zero for the city of Knoxville is simple in its purest form.
“The goal is to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injury crashes,” Vision Zero Coordinator Cody Gentry said.
Gentry was named coordinator of the project in March that has seen already more than $1 million of federal grant funding awarded to reach its declared goal.
“This is something that’s happening, this is happening in the U.S. We are having other cities achieve zero deaths so why not Knoxville,” Gentry said.
Gentry met WVLT at the intersection of Sutherland Ave. and Tobler, in front of West High School.
That intersection was where a student was hit by a car while walking to class last school year.
“One of the largest contributing factors we see in crashes is speed,” said Gentry.
The intersection received a few thousand dollars in improvements, but is eclipsed by larger projects, receiving millions of dollars in funding, all with the same goal.
“We had 36 total fatalities in 2023 which was up, we typically average somewhere in the mid to low 20s,” said Gentry.
Roads like Chapman Highway, Magnolia Ave. and Broadway are receiving the brunt of attention.
“It really needs it, so many accidents right here, all the young people racing up here along magnolia, its dangerous, lives have been lost,” Reuben Mitchell who lives in East Knoxville said.
Data WVLT News obtained showed since 2022, a three mile stretch of Magnolia Ave. had been the location of 13 serious crashes that resulted in seven deaths.
“I would do a roundabout at these main intersections, Cherry and Magnolia I’d do a round about stop people from running lights, speeding and racing and things like that,” Mitchell said.
While a project that is slated to last until 2040, Vision Zero is already being put to work, with Sutherland and Tobler being a tangible example of the work being done.
“We call these quick build projects, so the overall idea is we want to get something on the ground as quick as cheaply as possible but still achieve the results were going for,” said Gentry. ”We can take these quick build projects we can be more nimble be more reactive get things on the ground.”
