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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – Plans to transform a portion of West State of Franklin Road in downtown Johnson City into extra parking are temporarily on hold as city officials review the proposal.
The initiative, which was revealed on April 15, needs to be evaluated by the city planning commission before any progress can be made.
“There are regulations stating that any alteration of street dimensions, whether narrowing or widening, must be reviewed by the planning commission,” explained Cathy Ball, the city manager of Johnson City.
The suggested conversion would reduce West State of Franklin to a two-lane thoroughfare, necessitating a presentation at the planning commission meeting on June 9. Following this, it is expected to be forwarded to the city commission for final approval, after which construction can commence.
The new parking plan has some community members concerned, saying it may cause traffic on the roads surrounding the new lot.
However, city officials argue that the slowed traffic allows for a safer downtown.
“There’s always going to be traffic shifted, but some of the traffic will stay where it is, and they’ll be slow,” said Johnson City traffic engineering manager Anthony Todd. “There’ll be a bit more congestion in the area, but it’s going to slow it down so pedestrians can get across easier. What we do is we look at options to help us out when we notice that there’s problems. We found some areas where there were crashes with pedestrians, so we looked at what options we could do to try to improve that, to reduce the crossing distance and improving the turn on red, so it’s harder for people to get hit.”
However, the new lots are backed by business owners, who previously told News Channel 11 it accommodates a growing downtown scene.
The plan includes the reopening of a parking garage with space for nearly 350 vehicles.
During the garage’s first weekend opening, however, Johnson City assistant city manager Alicia Summers reported about only 50 vehicles occupied the garage for the weekend.
She said the city is working on ways to promote the new accommodation
“We’ve done a social media push to notify the public about the parking hours on a press release,” said Summers. “We’ve also added some additional signage. Alongside and on on the garage building itself. We’re looking at some other ways to try to promote some additional folks to park in the garage.”
Summers also said safety was a concern for business owners, residents and the city officials regarding the parking garage, now equipping the space with additional lighting and on-site security within its opening hours.
Ball said at the Tuesday afternoon meeting that the projected completion of the project is October of 2026.