Bethesda Metro station south mezzanine construction continues (Photos)

Construction of the new south entrance mezzanine continues at the Bethesda Metro station. What's visible to the public is the work near the tunnel entrance across from the platform. Precast concrete panels designed decades ago to be punched out for this very purpose were removed last year. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of June.

Bethesda Metro station closed today; free shuttles to Friendship Heights, Medical Center

The Bethesda Metro station is closed today, Sunday, November 16, 2025. Red Line trains will bypass the station platform. Free Metrobus shuttles are operating between Friendship Heights and Medical Center during the shutdown. The closure was demanded by the Maryland Department of Transportation for work related to the future Purple Line light rail, the opening of which was just postponed yet another year to 2028. However, transit agency WMATA decided to make lemonade out of Maryland's sour lemons, by using the downtime to complete open joint elimination, replace 175 rail fasteners, address track defects, and replace any defective rail sections at the station.

Assault at Bethesda Metro station

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a 2nd-degree assault at the Bethesda Metro station yesterday afternoon, October 30, 2025. The assault was reported at the station at 2:46 PM Thursday. 

Purse snatched in downtown Bethesda

Montgomery County police were called to investigate a purse snatching in downtown Bethesda yesterday afternoon, October 2, 2025. The theft was reported in the 7400 block of Wisconsin Avenue at 3:30 PM Thursday. It took place at the Bethesda Metro station.

New Metro pylon installed at Bethesda Metro station (Photos)

Transit agency WMATA has begun installing new Metro pylons at the Bethesda Metro station. This one is on Woodmont Avenue. The primary change is the use of a colored circle to designate the Metro line(s) that operate through each station. Letters - in this case, "RD" for Red Line (not Robert Dyer) - have been placed inside the circle for riders who are color blind. I have posted a photo of the classic stripe design below for comparison purposes. The new design is - like most changes WMATA has made over the last decade - a step down in aesthetics, though not as glaring as the operating room-esque lighting that has wrecked the dramatic original lighting effect inside stations. Surprised and relieved they didn't drop the classic brown for lemon yellow, at this point. Nuts!

Old design, for comparison

Bethesda Metro station 40th anniversary celebration this Sunday, Aug. 25

The Bethesda Historical Society will mark one of the greatest moments in Bethesda history this Sunday, August 25, 2024 from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM on the Bethesda Metro Center plaza. It will have been exactly 40 years ago Sunday that the Metro subway system officially arrived in downtown Bethesda with the opening of the Bethesda Metro station. A time of tremendous excitement, the redevelopment of the site that became the Metro Center also brought an upheaval and departure of beloved businesses and old architecture. 

The Metro Center redevelopment did deliver modern office buildings and a hotel that are still impressive today. There was even a Burger King for a time! And the Metro Center plaza became a central gathering space for downtown Bethesda, with its ice rink, Christmas tree, and July 4th firework displays. All of those seasonal features are gone now, as the center of activity drifted over to the newer Bethesda Row development this century. The plaza fountains still provide an oasis of respite in the Central Business District.

It's hard to imagine today how exciting it was to ride the Metro subway for the first time in the 1980s. The system's stations were the design envy of the world. Some of that original aesthetic and vision has been lost with recent attempts to brighten surfaces and wreck the dramatic lighting. Suffice it to say, there is little appreciation of Brutalism (or great architecture, for that matter) among those who now dominate regional decisionmaking.

Sunday's event will feature historical exhibits, music, and family activities. There will be special remarks delivered at 12:15 PM. The event is co-sponsored by the Marriott Bethesda Downtown hotel, the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, the Greater Bethesda Chamber of Commerce, transit agency WMATA, and the KID Museum. 

Robbery in Bethesda Metro Center garage

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a robbery inside the parking garage at the Bethesda Metro Center Sunday night, June 2, 2024. The robbery was reported in the garage at 8:01 PM Sunday. An unspecified weapon was employed in the robbery, but it was not a firearm.

Assault at Bethesda Metro station

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a 2nd-degree assault at the Bethesda Metro station during the early Monday morning rush hour. The assault was reported at the station at 5:45 AM on Monday, March 18, 2024. It was the second assault reported to police in a public area of the central business district in 48 hours. The first took place Saturday afternoon at the Woodmont Corner garage, which is two blocks from the Metro station.

Elm Street gantry crane construction update (Photos)

Assembly of a gantry crane for the construction of the new south entrance to the Bethesda Metro station continues on Elm Street. In addition to the framelike structure, you can now see part of the actual crane machinery has been installed. The Metro station platform is 120' below street level, and space is constrained between the 7200 Wisconsin property and the Hampden House construction site across Elm Street. I believe this is the first time this type of crane has been utilized in Bethesda.

New staircase opens at Bethesda Metro station (Photos)

The new staircase between the plaza and bus bay levels at the Bethesda Metro station has opened. A conversion of an often-out-of-service escalator to a wider staircase, WMATA managed to complete the project several days ahead of the projected December 31, 2022 delivery date. As you can see, the staircase has been well-lit for security and safety reasons. The gleaming new stairs and railings almost look out of place with the older concrete and infrastructure around them.

Bethesda Metro station escalator-to-stairs conversion update (Photos)

The wraps are off, and a wider staircase is now taking form where the plaza-to-bus-bays escalator was at the Bethesda Metro station. Half of this staircase is the stairway that was always parallel to that escalator, and the other side has been constructed in the space left behind when the escalator was ripped out earlier this year. WMATA was up against a Thursday deadline to complete this project, but has now extended the delivery date to December 31. But with the significant progress that has been made over the last two weeks, it looks like they'll be done much earlier.

Bethesda Metro station escalator-to-stairs conversion update (Photos)

We're 25 days out from the most-generous deadline for completion of the conversion of the plaza-to-bus-bays escalator to an old-fashioned staircase at the Bethesda Metro station. A large tarp is draped over where the escalator has been removed. 

But a closer look underneath finds just rebar, and some initial parts of forms for the eventual pouring of the new concrete stairs. WMATA has promised this project would be completed in the summer of 2022, and that still appears possible by the technical end of summer, the first day of autumn on September 22.

Bethesda Metro escalator-to-stairs conversion running out of summer (Photos)

The plaza-to-bus-bays escalator at the Bethesda Metro station was scheduled to be replaced with a more-primitive staircase by the end of this summer. Summer is half-over, and here is a look at the progress since my last update in June. In a sign that construction of the new stairs may be ramping up this week, a new scaffolding has been erected at the top of the stairs. Summer doesn't end until September 22, so they've still got about 7 weeks to deliver a gleaming new staircase here, folks.