Restaurants can begin building outdoor dining spaces, DOT says
MIDTOWN (WABC) -- With the warmer and sunnier weather, you may be tempted to eat outside and starting today, New York City restaurants with permits can begin building outdoor dining setups.
The official start of outdoor dining season is April 1st.
The Department of Transportation said 600 restaurants received the okay to build roadway dining structures. Another 2,000 locations are cleared for sidewalk dining.
Outdoor dining has been a work in progress and has evolved from where it started during the pandemic.
Now, an entire interactive website is devoted to helping restaurants properly set up.
The site, Dining Out NYC, provides information ranging from how far a roadway cafe must be from a crosswalk or fire hydrant to the materials for an overhead covering.
The site also spells out how restaurants should maintain and clean their outdoor dining spaces.
"They have to build in a way that the floor can be lifted for cleaning every week," New York City DOT Commissioner Yadanis Rodriguez told Eyewitness News.
The DOT also noted that several restaurant applications are still pending.
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