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Downtown Chattanooga businesses hurt by parking closures

Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Businesses along Market Street, seen Aug. 7, 2025, saw street parking blocked recently ahead of a resurfacing project. Gina Bennett, owner of Sing It or Wing It on the street, says she lost business after the city blocked parking with no notice. Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Businesses along Market Street, seen Aug. 7, 2025, saw street parking blocked recently ahead of a resurfacing project. Gina Bennett, owner of Sing It or Wing It on the street, says she lost business after the city blocked parking with no notice.

By Daniel Dassow August 12, 2025 4 min read

Business owners and managers along Market Street said they took a hit when the Chattanooga Parking Authority blocked street parking with cones and barriers more than a week before the state began a resurfacing project.

The city’s parking agency helps the Tennessee Department of Transportation close street parking as a courtesy, but the state is “fully responsible” for the closures, Scott Wilson, chief of staff at the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority, said in an email.

TDOT closed street parking to resurface the downtown artery, part of a state route, between M.L. King Boulevard and Cherokee Boulevard starting Sunday and continuing through Friday. The agency announced the closing last week.

But officials unexpectedly began blocking street parking with cones July 31, said Gina Bennett, owner of Sing It or Wing It, a karaoke bar on Market Street.