City officials hope new rules for parking on a downtown street will improve traffic flow and help local businesses.

Pickerington City Council voted unanimously Nov. 3 to allow parking on both sides of Center Street between East Columbus and West streets in Olde Pickerington Village.

The new ordinance clarifies the rules for parking on Center Street.

Previously, a city statute said parking was permitted only on one side of the street but it didn't identify which one.

"Vehicles have been parking on both sides of Center Street for quite a while," said Greg Bachman, Pickerington city engineer. "We were not enforcing parking on only one side because who was to say which side was right and which side was wrong?

"The significance of the new ordinance is to designate exactly where vehicles can park and to allow this parking on both sides of Center Street, as additional parking is very needed in this section of town," he said. "By defining the parking spaces, people will have a clearer understanding of where to park and how to access businesses."

Within the next month, the city is expected to mark a total of 13 permitted parking spaces on Center Street between East Columbus and West streets. There will nine spaces on the west side of Center Street and four on the east side.

City officials also hope to improve traffic in the area by providing striping for southbound right- and left-turn lanes for Center Street at the East Columbus Street traffic signal.

"This will allow more vehicles to get through the traffic signal for each green light cycle," Bachman said. "We're actually going to stripe it off so people can really know where they can park and where the lanes are for stacking up at that traffic signal."