Two of Montgomery County’s four streateries will close after Labor Day, and county officials and business leaders are weighing what to do with the public spaces that have been reserved for pedestrians for nearly two years.

The Newell Street streatery in Silver Spring and the Woodmont Avenue streatery in Bethesda will both reopen to vehicles after Labor Day, according to a statement from the county’s transportation department on Monday. The Price Avenue location in Wheaton and Norfolk Avenue in Bethesda will remain closed to cars for the “foreseeable future,” according to the county.

“The Streeteries have provided a practical solution to a pandemic-related problem,” County Executive Marc Elrich says in the county’s release. “They served as much-needed gathering spaces during the pandemic and provided a creative solution. Now as the situation has changed, we worked with the community in each area to decide how these spaces will continue to operate.”

The Newell Street streatery, which opened in September 2020, served as more of a “playstreet” for recreation than an outdoor patio for nearby restaurants. The pedestrian-only block sits next to Acorn Park — one of the locations for the Picnic in the Park program, which encouraged residents to order takeout from local restaurants  and eat in the county’s public parks during the pandemic. The decision to reopen the street to vehicles came after the county conducted a survey this past spring, and “received mixed reviews regarding the desirability of the use of the street as a public gathering space.” The street will close to cars on an as-needed basis for events.

The Woodmont Avenue location in Bethesda, which houses restaurants like Spanish Diner and Matchbox, will be temporarily suspended and partially reopened to traffic to account for the construction of the Woodmont Avenue Cycle Track, which is set to start after Labor Day. The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Service Center is gathering feedback from residents and businesses on how to proceed with the streatery in the future, and Federal Realty Investment Trust, which owns a number of properties along Woodmont Avenue, is planning its own redesign of the outdoor space.

The streateries began as a part of the county’s Shared Streets program, a measure implemented during the pandemic to reimagine public spaces for pedestrian use, and to bolster businesses struggling amid COVID-19-related closures and restrictions. With most business operations now returned to normal, the county says any businesses seeking streatery permits after Labor Day will have to show they’ve accounted for accessibility requirements.