Shakeup coming to Holly Street outdoor dining as city addresses bike lanes ‘pinch point’

City officials are working to ease a “pinch point” for drivers near a block of streetside cafes that was created when bike lanes were added on Holly Street through the downtown core.

Mayor Kim Lund made the announcement during a City Council meeting Monday night, saying the the so-called “streateries” will be scaled back on Holly between Bay and Commercial streets.

“To ease the pinch point, we have asked the businesses by Oct. 1 to either phase out their streatery structures or apply to scale them back,” Lund said.

“We are working with several business owners to approve alternative outdoor dining arrangements and we expect to bring comprehensive program updates on both the bike lane and streateries to council later in the fall,” she said.

Bike lanes were added to Holly Street in May from Ellis to Bay streets, reducing traffic lanes from three to two.

Holly, a one-way street heading west, is one of two main east-west routes through the city center.

Because the block of Holly between Commercial and Bay streets has several streateries that take up a lane of traffic, that block of Holly was reduced to a single lane.

Those outdoor dining locations and others were added across the city in 2022 as a way of helping local restaurants recover from coronavirus pandemic limits and also provide social distancing for diners.