KINSTON, N.C. (WITN) – An Eastern Carolina city is looking for its residents’ opinion regarding the state’s proposed removal of traffic lights along a main downtown road.

The City of Kinston is hosting a public hearing the evening at its city council meeting.

The public hearing is about the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s suggestion to remove traffic lights along Queen Street at the intersections of Caswell, Gordon, and North Streets.

The NCDOT says the removal will help with the flow of traffic.

WITN spoke with Jim Evans, NCDOT Division II Traffic Engineer in May. Evans says that Queen Street is stopping even if there’s no traffic on the side streets, citing 45 seconds of green flow traffic and 18 seconds of green flow on the side streets.

Official says the proposal is still in the early stages, with safety as the number one concern.

If the City of Kinston does move forward with removing traffic lights, the city and Lenoir County Transportation Committee will send a resolution to the NCDOT, and then take out the signals.

The public hearing is at 5:30 p.m. at the Chambers of City Hall at 207 East King Street.