The City of Knoxville will reopen the newly-striped Jackson Avenue Parking lot beginning Friday afternoon and through the football weekend of September 10-11. Parking will be free throughout the weekend as part of the City's free nights and weekend program.

The city closed the lot last week to re-stripe it and install the equipment needed to transition to a pay lot.

The parking lot, just west of the intersection of Gay Street and Jackson, will offer paid parking during the day beginning at 6:00 a.m. Monday, September 13 - though parking will still be free there nights after 6:00 p.m. and on weekends.

The Jackson Avenue Parking Lot contains about 200 parking spaces and new parking equipment will be able to accept credit and debit cards, cash and coins.

The city acquired the lot last year during the Gay Street Streetscapes Project and had offered free parking there throughout the duration of construction.

The new parking policy is aimed at supporting businesses located on the 100 Block and North Gay Street Areas by insuring there are spaces available during the day for people patronizing those establishments.

There have been concerns that if the city doesn't charge for parking during the day many of the lot's spaces would be taken up by downtown workers parking there throughout the day – leaving fewer spaces for customers and clients of nearby businesses.

For more information about hourly, daily, and monthly parking rates, please contact the Public Building Authority at (865) 595-3350.