Residents in one Locust Point community will now see less car traffic in their neighborhood.

For years, residents have dealt with traffic backups as motorists take detours into their neighborhood with the hope of getting over the Throgs Neck Bridge faster.

During the busiest hours of the day, they say they are forced to sit in traffic for an upwards of 30 minutes just to get home.

That is why the City Department of Transportation is doing away with parking along Harding Avenue. The DOT believes that by opening up the road, it will provide residents with more room to maneuver around traffic and turn onto Longstreet Avenue into Locust Point.

The new parking restrictions went into place on Dec. 13.

Posted signs now prevent drivers from parking along Harding Avenue on weekdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., which is when the neighborhood sees the most traffic.

Joe Donovan, the president of the Locust Point Civic Association, has lived in the neighborhood his whole life. He is optimistic and thinks the parking restriction is the first step to relieving traffic congestion.

"We're hopeful, we're thankful, but having that extra lane is only going to be another lane full of traffic at this point. This is, in my eyes, step one," Donovan says.

So far, Donovan says the restrictions appear to be working, but he adds that it's hard to tell with less people commuting to and from work and school since it is the holiday season.

He says he is thankful that the DOT stepped in to get the ball rolling on a long-awaited improvement.