BETHESDA ROW

PUBLIC PARKING

GARAGE 57

TO

GET SMART IN

NOVEMBER

Tonight will be a typical evening at infamous Garage 57 between Elm Street and Bethesda Avenue: horns honking, rude people, and driving around and around and around.

Eventually, you find out it was all just a waste of time. That car on the top level that should have pulled out of its space just as you rounded the corner? Well, its driver and his date are just getting started on their calamari appetizer around the block. Yes, everyone else had the same plan as you.

In two months, this may change.

The county just announced that this November they will install electronic displays over the entrances to Garage 57. They will tell drivers, in real-time, the number of vacant parking spaces.

Let's hope the system is accurate, because I've encountered some that claimed vacant spots when the garage in question was actually full.

Now, the system won't give us more parking spaces. In fact, when JBG demolishes the surface lots at Woodmont and Bethesda, we'll have less parking than ever.

But it will save a lot of wasted time searching in Garage 57.