Johnson City to improve downtown area parking

Johnson City announced Wednesday that it was taking several steps to improve downtown parking.  The first step will be for Johnson City Public Works to convert the two westbound lanes of West State of Franklin between Spring Street and Colonial Way into parking spaces.  The city said that will create 26-28 more parking spaces.  Those two lanes will be eliminated for the parking and will be separated from the travel lanes by a median.  On the other side of the median, the two eastbound lanes will be cut down to one lane in each direction between Buffalo and South Roan streets.  The city expects construction to take three to four months to complete.  During the construction, traffic on West State of Franklin will be affected, but the Downtown Square parking lot will stay open.  Drivers should anticipate lane shifts and delays.