Taking advantage of summer break, when most University of Tennessee students are off campus, City crews will be thoroughly cleaning the streets of Fort Sanders on two July weekends: Saturday and Sunday, July 13-14, and Saturday and Sunday, July 27-28.

Fort Sanders is Knoxville’s most densely populated neighborhood. Each summer, the City undertakes a robust Fort Sanders Summer Roundup, with crews refreshing street markings, replacing signs as needed, sweeping the streets, picking up trash and brush, and weeding the public rights-of-way.

In order to remove trash, grime and grit from hard-to-reach corners and crevices, it’s mandatory that all vehicles be moved on clean-up days from the streets being swept and cleaned.

Vehicles that are not moved prior to each day’s clean-up will be towed.

“The Fort always looks its best after the Summer Roundup, and we thank and appreciate the help and patience of the Fort Sanders residents who make this possible,” City Parking Manager Mark Elliott said.

“Fort Sanders is unique and has a very high demand for on-street parking. That makes it difficult to thoroughly sweep and deep clean throughout the year, due to so many vehicles parked on the streets.

“These two weekends are our best opportunities to refresh street markings and remove brush and litter. It’s imperative that owners move their vehicles to avoid being towed.”

The initial Fort Sanders Summer Roundup will be conducted on streets running east and west on Saturday and Sunday, July 13-14.

Traffic is expected to continue to flow on the affected streets, although some temporary short-term closures may occur as needed due to safety protocols.

On the days of the street sweepings, parking will not be allowed on the affected streets, and towing of parked vehicles will be enforced.

Attached (and on the City’s website) are maps showing which streets are affected on July 13-14.

On Saturday, July 13, residents and commuters should anticipate sweeping and cleaning on these six east-west avenues in the western end of Fort Sanders, west of 17th Street:

On Sunday, July 14, mostly the same avenues will be cleaned in the eastern end of Fort Sanders, between 17th Street and 11th Street – Grand, Forest, Highland, Bridge, Laurel, Clinch and White avenues.

The hours of operation on both days will begin at 6 a.m. and will end at 6 p.m.

Then, on the weekend of July 27-28, crews will clean up 11 north-south streets bounded by Grand Avenue to the north, Cumberland Avenue to the south, 12th Street to the east and South 23rd Street to the west.

To be cleaned on Saturday, July 27:

Then, on Sunday, July 28, crews will work on these streets:

Roughly 250 temporary no-parking signs will be posted in the days prior to the start of the street-cleaning work. In addition, flyers will be placed on hundreds of vehicle windshields and throughout the neighborhood prior to the start of the Fort Sanders Summer Roundup.