AUSTIN, TX — The downtown Austin alliance is investing more than $250,000 to study the best ways to tackle the traffic woes that continue to plague the downtown area.

The study will be complete in about one year and will take a closer look at existing on and off street parking spaces on top of looking at ways of making parking more efficient in the area.

The announcement of the study comes on the heels of Lyft and Uber following through with promises to leave town, raising concerns about more congestion inside the city's urban core. City leaders say the voluntary departure of the ride-hailing services carries major implications for the future of parking in the downtown area.

"What happened here in Austin is certainly national news. It has us concerned a little bit. It will impact parking in the short term. From our perspective it's just one of the other inputs into the study. Something will be figured out long term,” said Dewitt Peart with the Downtown Austin Alliance.

Organizers are looking for feedback from the public at a workshop Wednesday afternoon at the Google Fiber Space on Colorado St., which begins at 5:30 p.m. 

The consulting firm hired to help in the study has done similar work in cities including Portland-Oregon, Columbus-Ohio and Chicago.