Kirkwood Avenue in Bloomington is currently blocked to cars but available to foot traffic and restaurants until October 1st.

Bloomington, Indiana – Parts of Kirkwood Avenue in downtown Bloomington were blocked up with yellow bollards on Monday morning.

The east-west roadway is currently closed to car traffic for the fourth year in a row as a result of a city council decision to provide eateries access to the public right-of-way for additional seating.

On Monday about 8:30 a.m., a team from the department of public works led by operations manager Michael Large installed the final three bollards on the east side of the junction of Dunn Street and Kirkwood Avenue.

The installation of those three bollards could have happened much sooner. The orange “No Parking” signs that had been put on the meters a few days before, however, were ignored by one car that had parked on the street to the east of the crossing.

In order for a truck from Rick’s Towing to approach the automobile, hitch it up, and remove it off the street, a three-bollard-wide opening had to be created. In addition to the $50 parking fine, Huge estimated that it would cost about $150 to get the car back.

One person wearing a yellow vest remarked when the last bollard was put in place, “That’s all till October!” The city council accepted the street closure, which is in effect until October 1st.

In other portions of downtown with metered parking, “parklets” will be constructed over the next few days as part of the city’s seasonal outside dining initiative. For outside dining, restaurants can pay to use the metered parking spaces. Orange barriers loaded with water will be used to close off the areas.