NEW YORK — Restaurants across New York City are facing the challenge of how to protect makeshift outdoor dining spaces from a fleet of snow plows that will roll out to deal with a major snowstorm.
The city has ordered all outdoor dining suspended by 2 p.m. Wednesday, around the time when the storm is expected to start dumping a foot or more of snow in the city and throughout the Northeast.
New York City restaurants aren’t being required to break down wooden shacks and other structures they’ve set up in parking spaces for outdoor dining during the pandemic. But the city wants them to remove or secure outdoor furniture, remove heaters and the tops of their structures to make way for the plows that typically push piles of snow into parking spaces.
The eateries were already struggling to cope with a state shutdown on Monday of all indoor dining.
Meanwhile, New Jersey is poised to restrict commercial traffic from some highways because of the impending snow storm.
Beginning at 1 p.m. Wednesday, commercial vehicles will be prohibited from the interstate highways that cross the state. The restriction includes all tractor-trailers, passenger vehicles pulling trailers, recreational vehicles and motorcycles.