Photos by Kristy Bock / Neuse News

Parking in Kinston has been a topic of conversation as the reconstruction of Queen Street continues with diagonal parking lines painted on the street.

Street parking was a primary concern with an interest in revitalizing the buildings downtown. While there is an abundance of public parking in Kinston, the businesses along Queen Street are better served to have front row parking which allows customers to have easier access to the entrances of the buildings.

The design plan allows for 130 to 140 spaces in the designated three blocks where parking has changed from parallel to diagonal, which is approximately a 10 percent increase over the historical count.

“We expect a good improvement on parking on North Queen,” Kinston planning director Adam Short said.

The diagonal parking will run between King Street and Blount Street.

“There is interest in buildings being redeveloped with no way of having a parking lot, so on street parking is vital,” Pride of Kinston director Leon Steele said.

Although Queen Street will be narrowed to two lanes between King and Blount, south of King Street there are four lanes to allow for commercial traffic to remain uninterrupted.

An addition to the reconstruction of Queen Street is adding programmable LED lights under the newly planted trees. This will allow the city to change the colors depending on seasons or holidays. Steele went on to say that there is an additional interest in purchasing new pole decorations for five intersections.