The city of Whitefish in an effort to alleviate summer traffic congestions is re-opening East First Street between Central Avenue and Baker Avenue.

The street will be open to one-way traffic westbound. Both lanes of the street have been closed and in use as a staring area for the City Hall and parking structure construction project.

To accommodate the need for space for storage of construction materials and trailer, the south half of the parking lot at the northwest corner of East First Street and Central Avenue will be closed.

The contractor began occupying the portion of the parking lot on May 23 and will remain there until it can move onto the City Hall and parking structure site, according to City Manager Chuck Stearns.

The city will stripe the north half of the parking lot south of the Craggy Range Bar and Grill to accommodate better parking. In addition, the city will also add temporary diagonal parking on the south side of East First Street between Central Avenue and the construction site.

There will be a net loss of about 10 parking spaces because of the change, according to Stearns.