Excavators have been digging into the banks of Second Creek near Neyland Drive this summer, moving rocks into place to reinforce slopes that lead down to the water behind the University of Tennessee's John D. Tickle Engineering Building. The $3.7 million project is aimed at stabilizing the slope, shoreline and stream itself, with crews also removing invasive plant species and installing native East Tennessee plants along the banks.
The work is officially tracked by the state as Building Commission project No. SBC 540/009-09-2021, according to Knoxville News Sentinel, with Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc. serving as designer, per UT Knoxville Facilities Services. General contractor Wilamut Construction Co. LLC submitted a base bid of $1,113,007.64 for the stream repair and storm sewer replacement work, according to the University of Tennessee System, and the firm holds state certifications in erosion prevention and sediment control. Construction began in May, and both Wilamut and UT are aiming to wrap up by fall, though UT's interactive campus map lists October as a potential completion date.
Pedestrians Still Have a Path, But Not the Old Underpass
Anyone walking through the area doesn't need to detour far. Pedestrians can continue using the Second Creek Greenway during construction, and the bridge connecting that walkway to the Tickle Engineering Building remains open, though part of it has been closed off to accommodate the work. Along Neyland Drive itself, pedestrians must use the surface crosswalk to cross.
What they still can't use is the pedestrian underpass that once ran beneath Neyland Drive at Second Creek, where the stream empties into the Tennessee River. That underpass was closed in October 2018 and was reported to have collapsed by August 2019, according to WBIR, which reported that the City of Knoxville said maintenance responsibility for the passage belongs to UT. The underpass remains closed and blocked today, and the current slope work sits just steps from where it failed.
A Construction Zone in the Middle of a Much Bigger Overhaul
The Second Creek work site sits directly beside the future construction site of the planned Neyland Entertainment District, a $280 million public-private partnership awarded to the 865 Neyland Project Team, per UT Athletics. That project calls for a 24-story condotel, 175,000 square feet of retail and dining space, and a six-story parking structure, targeted for completion by fall 2028.
It's not the only massive price tag attached to this stretch of campus. UT Knoxville Facilities Services is simultaneously overseeing $337 million in Neyland Stadium renovations and $105.6 million in Lindsey Nelson Baseball Stadium expansions along the same Neyland Drive corridor. Set against those figures, the $3.7 million creek stabilization is a modest line item — but one addressing infrastructure that has already failed once along this stretch of waterfront.
A Creek With Deep Roots in Knoxville's History
Second Creek isn't just a construction backdrop. It served as the western boundary of Knoxville's original 64-lot town grid surveyed in 1791 and later became a strategic rail corridor after the 1855 construction of the East Tennessee Valley and Georgia Railroad, according to the Middle Tennessee State University Center for Historic Preservation. The creek also marks the western starting terminus of Volunteer Landing, the $42 million waterfront redevelopment launched after a 1988 city task force study on riverfront access.
The creek has also faced long-standing water quality and invasive species problems, prompting restoration efforts from groups like UT's Society for Ecological Restoration alongside municipal stormwater cleanups, per the UT Office of Sustainability. The Second Creek Greenway currently in use by pedestrians connects World's Fair Park and downtown Knoxville to the more than three-mile Neyland Greenway along the Tennessee riverfront, according to the City of Knoxville Parks and Recreation. The city is also planning a separate Neyland Drive Pedestrian Connection Project to build new sidewalks and upgrade intersections from Lake Loudoun Boulevard to Joan Cronan Way, according to the City of Knoxville Engineering Department.
