Theft-from-auto rampage in Springfield, Sumner, Glen Echo Heights neighborhoods of Bethesda

Multiple residents in the Springfield, Sumner and Glen Echo Heights neighborhoods in Bethesda awoke on February 5, 2023 to find items missing from inside their vehicles. One resident in Glen Echo Heights found their car missing altogether. Streets that were hit by the thieves included Ogden Road, Ogden Court, Madawaska Road, Wissioming Road, Knollwood Road, Nahant Street, Wapakoneta Road, Namakagan Road and Newington Road. Remember to lock vehicles, do not leave any visible objects inside the car, and do not leave your keys in the ignition or glove compartment.

Two cars stolen in Glen Echo Heights area of Bethesda

Montgomery County police responded to a report of two stolen vehicles in the Glen Echo Heights area of Bethesda on Tuesday morning, December 14, 2022. The first vehicle was taken from the driveway of a home in the 6300 block of Wiscasset Road. A second car was stolen from outside of a home in the 5700 block of Bent Branch Road. The Massachusetts Avenue corridor continues to be a favorite haunt of professional car thieves.

Traffic signals installed on Sangamore Rd. at Walhonding Rd. in Bethesda

Sangamore Road looking toward
intersection with Walhonding Road

The Montgomery County Department of Transportation has installed traffic signals at the currently-unsignalized intersection of Sangamore Road and Walhonding Road in Bethesda. This project has been on MCDOT's list of Vision Zero initiatives, and was budgeted for the fiscal year FY-2022. There are now two poles with signal arms in place; one of the arms is currently swung over behind the Glen Echo Volunteer Fire Department, and is out of view in this photo. You can see the other one is in position already, with the signals themselves covered.

This intersection is only a short block from the Sangamore-Massachusetts Avenue intersection that has signals. However, the intersection is currently intimidating for pedestrians to cross, and children walking from Sumner and Glen Echo Heights to Glen-Mar Park are likely to use this route. Views of oncoming cross-street traffic are obstructed in all four directions at this crossing, as you can see in the above photo. Crosswalks still have to be painted.

If you've driven on Sangamore for any length of time, you've probably had to hit your brakes for someone blowing through the stop signs on Walhonding here more than once. You're also likely to now approach this intersection with hyper caution as a result. It's unclear if there will be any issue with traffic backing up on that short block of Sangamore between the two signals.

Sangamore Road now advertised as "speed camera corridor" in Bethesda

A new sign has been posted on Sangamore Road across from the Glen Echo Fire Department that reads, "Speed Camera Corridor." Sangamore has actually been on Montgomery County's Speed Camera Corridor list for several years, but this is the first sign I can recall being erected on the road. 

The County speed camera map currently shows no cameras on Sangamore, but with this sign appearing, one might be wise to stick to the 30 MPH speed limit in the coming weeks and months. County officials had vowed two years ago to double the number of speed cameras deployed countywide.

Car stolen in Glen Echo Heights

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a stolen vehicle in the Glen Echo Heights area of Bethesda early Wednesday morning. The vehicle was parked along the street in the 5700 block of Mohican Place, and was reported stolen around 5:30 AM, according to crime data. Massachusetts Avenue remains a popular corridor for car thieves.

Auto theft spree in Massachusetts Avenue corridor of Bethesda

A grand theft auto heist that appears to have required a large team of thieves was executed in the Massachusetts Avenue corridor of Bethesda over the night from Friday, May 14 to yesterday morning, May 15. Cars were stolen from homes in the 5400 block of Duvall Drive and 5300 block of Blackistone Road in Westmoreland Hills, the 5300 block of Westpath Way in Glen Echo Heights, and the 5300 block of Briley Place in Springfield over the course of that one night, according to crime data. 

Neighborhoods in the Massachusetts Avenue corridor have been hard hit by car thieves in recent years. But over the last year, criminals appear to be operating in a well-organized fashion and with near-impunity in Montgomery County, with auto thefts and brazen carjackings surging countywide.

High winds cause power outages in Bethesda

High winds in the Washington, D.C. area that are expected to continue through 2:00 AM Saturday morning have already toppled some trees, including one on I-495 near Old Georgetown Road. Three power outages have been reported to Pepco in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase-Potomac area so far. 

An outage in Glen Echo Heights currently has less than 5 customers without power. A larger outage in Carderock is affecting about 115 customers. 42 customers are in the dark in the Alta Vista area along Old Georgetown Road.

Mystery noise keeping some Bethesda residents up at night

Several Bethesda and D.C. residents who live near the Potomac River inside the Beltway are reporting that they hear a loud, low humming sound during the night in recent months. There have been other nighttime noise mysteries from time to time in that area since the 1980s. Some would attribute them to secret goings-on at intelligence and military facilities in Sumner or Carderock.

While we can't definitively declare the current mystery solved, there's a possibility this particular noise may not require the attention of Fox Mulder. Since late summer, National Park Service contractors have been repaving Clara Barton Parkway. This work was to begin at Carderock and work its way in towards the District line by the end of the year.

The noise described does sound consistent with that heard in the River Road corridor when it was repaved about three years ago. Long, low humming and growling noises. At a distance, or inside structures, the sound may not immediately bring roadway resurfacing to mind.

Topographical factors may enhance the noise in this case. Clara Barton Parkway runs below neighborhoods at the bottom of a steep drop-off from homes located above it along MacArthur Boulevard. So the noise is going to refract off of the higher elevations on either side of the Potomac, and in the quiet of night, be even more noticeable.

Keep the reports coming in, however, in case the Mothman of West Virginia has relocated to our suburbs.

Three more cars stolen in Bethesda

Thieves strike in Massachusetts Ave.

corridor yet again

Summer is rapidly winding down, but the Massachusetts Avenue corridor of Bethesda remains a surprisingly risky place to park your car in 2020. Another car was stolen, this time from the driveway of a home in the 6000 block of Massachusetts Avenue itself early Tuesday morning.

Items were taken from a vehicle parked along the street in the 5200 block of Falmouth Road in Spring Hill on Monday. The thief or thieves appeared to strike some time between Monday night and Tuesday morning, taking property from a vehicle parked in the driveway of a home in the 6200 block of Wiscasset Road, in the Glen Echo Heights area - and from another car not far away, in the 5200 block of Wapakoneta Road.

Two other cars were stolen in Bethesda over that same night. Both were in the Bradley Boulevard corridor, in the 5400 block of Burling Road in the Whitehall Manor area, and in the 6100 block of Temple Street in Bradmoor, 

Lock those car doors, remove all valuables visible in the interior, and don't leave your keys in the glove compartment or in the ignition!

Car stolen in Glen Echo Heights area of Bethesda

The Massachusetts Avenue corridor continues to experience fairly significant auto theft activity this summer. Montgomery County police responded to a report of a stolen car in Glen Echo Heights Saturday morning. The vehicle was taken from the driveway of a home in the 5400 block of Mohican Road. It was stolen sometime between 10:30 PM Friday night and 10:30 AM Saturday morning.

Gas leak in Glen Echo Heights

Montgomery County firefighters are responding to a report of a gas leak in Glen Echo Heights. According to scanner reports, firefighters on the scene report that a construction crew working on a house in the 5300 block of Wapokoneta Road have struck a 2-3" gas line underground. Firefighters are evacuating the house, and say that the gas level in the air is rising rapidly, according to their monitors.

Glen Echo Heights sewer project goes $900,000 over budget

A project to install storm drains, pipes, curbs and gutters on Wapakoneta Road in Glen Echo Heights has gone $900,000 over budget. Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett's recommended FY-2018 capital budget includes the cost overrun.

The budget document states that the project cost increased nearly a million dollars "due to higher-than-anticipated construction bids." This would suggest the way the County is bidding these projects needs to be reviewed. Bids should be coming in at the amount set by the County, or below. If the firms that bid couldn't meet that amount, the bidding process should be widened, not ended.

FAA drops flight path change over Bethesda

Residents have scored a temporary victory in the air wars over western Bethesda. The Federal Aviation Administration just announced it is dropping a proposed Reagan National Airport departure flight path change that would have increased airplane noise over western Bethesda neighborhoods along the Potomac River. Called LAZIR-B, the proposal went through an extensive review process and stirred outrage among affected Northwest D.C. and Bethesda neighborhoods. It would have moved the departure route closer to - and in some spots over - Bethesda homes.

Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center Director Ken Hartman represents Montgomery County on the Reagan National Community Noise Working Group. The group overwhelmingly endorsed two recommendations by Montgomery County, which would have kept planes as close to the center of the river as possible, at its November 3 meeting. Combined with overwhelming resident and official opposition, the result was the FAA canceling its plan, which had been advertised as increasing efficiency and lowering the environmental impacts of jet travel.

In a statement, the FAA said it would continue to support the efforts of the Community Noise Working Group.

FAA schedules meeting on proposed flight path change toward Bethesda

Updated 12:00 AM September 3: The meeting location has been moved to downtown Bethesda due to "Back to School Night" at Westland MS. Please note the new location below

A public workshop will be held on September 15 to discuss a proposed flight path change from Reagan National Airport along the Potomac River. The meeting will be held at 6:30 PM at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, which is located at 4805 Edgemoor Lane in Bethesda.

Under the proposed change, the path of jets departing Reagan National would move 1525' closer to the Maryland side of the Potomac from its current departure route. Essentially, neighborhoods in McLean would get a relative break at Bethesda and Palisades residents' expense (though, considering both communities are very wealthy, one has to wonder what would tip the political scales in any particular direction in this case). In official terms, however, the change is part of the NextGen program that the Federal Aviation Administration expects to have significant environmental and efficiency benefits.

Among those predicted benefits, the FAA says, will be the saving of 2.1 million gallons of jet fuel, and 18200 metric tons of carbon. The new flight paths will also improve on-time performance of airlines operating out of major U.S. cities, the agency forecasts.

The FAA says its "noise modeling" of May 2016 tells them that "there would be no significant noise impact" on communities near the new flight path. It should be noted that computer modeling is not the same as measuring actual noise levels in the real world environment.

Attendees will be able to speak individually with experts, and comment on the proposed flight path change. Those comments will be reviewed by the FAA before it makes its final determination this fall.

Map courtesy FAA

Montgomery County Council to consider seizing Bethesda homeowners' land today

The Montgomery County Council will consider a request from the County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) today to condemn thousands of square feet of private residential property in the Glen Echo Heights neighborhood of Bethesda. MCDOT is seeking to obtain a perpetual easement from a single-family home property on Wapakoneta Road, and two temporary construction easements from single-family home properties on Wapakoneta and Wehawken Road, respectively.

Timothy Firestine, Chief Administrative Officer of Montgomery County, is asking the Council to condemn the land outright using its power of eminent domain. In a memo on behalf of County Executive Ike Leggett, Firestine writes that MCDOT wants to install a 24" drainpipe, curbs, storm drains and gutters along Wapakoneta Road, from Namakagan Road to Walhonding Road. The County has negotiated with 5 homeowners on Wapakoneta and Wehawken since April 2015 to obtain right-of-way for the improvements, and temporary space for construction staging.

So far, MoCo has reached agreements with 2 of the 5 affected property owners. The project is running out of time to negotiate further, Firestine says, and he is now asking the County Council to "obtain immediate possession of portions of those properties for which the County has not yet been able to negotiate an amicable resolution with the Property Owners."

Homeowners of one of the Wapakoneta properties in question are currently reviewing a potential agreement with the County, but have not signed it yet. Owners of the second home on Wapakoneta have not agreed to sell. Firestine says they "do not want to lose their trees."

The permanent easement being sought along Wapakoneta is 1,505 SF; the two construction easements would be 2,502 SF (Wehawken) and 1,500 SF (Wapakoneta).

Today's agenda item is an introduction of the Advance Taking resolution. A worksession on the matter is currently scheduled for November 2.

Burglary in Glen Echo Heights, auto break-ins in East Bethesda + more - Bethesda crime update

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across Bethesda on May 7, according to crime data:

Disorderly conduct. Woodmont Avenue at St. Elmo Avenue.

Liquor arrest. Highland Avenue at Wisconsin Avenue.

Vehicle burglary. 4600 block Chestnut Street.

Vehicle burglary. 4700 block Bradley Boulevard.

Vehicle burglary. 4300 block Rosedale Avenue.

Theft from vehicle. 5000 block Rodman Road at 9:27 AM (Westgate).

Burglary. 6000 block Namakagan Road at 5:59 PM (Glen Echo Heights).

Drug arrest. Beach Drive at Knowles Avenue (Rock Creek Park).

Assault on Dudley La., burglary on Westbard Avenue + more - Bethesda crime update

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across Bethesda on May 6, according to crime data:

Vehicle burglary. 7600 block Wisconsin Avenue.

Drug arrest. 4900 block St. Elmo Avenue.

Theft. Capital Beltway at Connecticut Avenue (must be a very talented thief).

Theft. Rockville Pike at Alta Vista Road.

Burglary. 5300 block Westbard Avenue at 8:05 AM.

Assault. 5100 block Dudley Lane at 10:22 PM.

Theft from vehicle. 6300 block Wiscasset Road at 12:47 PM (Glen Echo Heights).

Vehicle burglary. 10500 block Rockville Pike.

Vehicle burglary. 7100 block Swansong Way.

Theft. Sears at Westfield Montgomery Mall.

Thefts on Marengo Rd., Wehawken Rd.; assault on Pomander La. + more - Bethesda crime update

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across Bethesda on April 19, according to crime data:

Disorderly conduct. Norfolk Avenue at St. Elmo Avenue.

Theft from vehicle. 5600 block Marengo Road at 10:09 AM (Springfield).

Vehicle burglary. 6000 block Greentree Road at 10:02 AM.

Theft from vehicle. 5100 block Wehawken Road at 8:50 AM (Glen Echo Heights).

Burglary. 6400 block Rock Spring Drive.

Assault. 7100 block Pomander Lane (Chevy Chase Manor).

ASSAULT ON EAST-WEST HWY., THEFTS IN MASS. AVE. CORRIDOR + MORE - BETHESDA CRIME UPDATE

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across Bethesda on February 12, according to crime data:

Assault. 4300 block East-West Highway at 10:08 AM.

Theft. 8600 block Old Georgetown Road.

Theft from vehicle. 6500 block Broxburn Drive at 10:46 AM (Flint Hill).

Theft from vehicle. 6200 block Walhonding Road at 2:48 PM (Glen Echo Heights).

Theft. 5200 block Wissioming Road at 7:13 AM (Glen Echo Heights).

Theft. 5100 block Baltimore Avenue at 2:55 PM (Westgate).

Theft. 10400 block Grosvenor Place at 10:01 AM.

Assault. Randolph Road and Parkland Drive (Pike District).

VEHICLE BREAK-INS IN PIKE DISTRICT, DRUG ARREST ON HAMPTON MILL + MORE - BETHESDA CRIME UPDATE

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across Bethesda on February 6, according to crime data:

Theft. 5400 block Albia Road (Springfield).

Theft. 5100 block Wehawken Road (Glen Echo Heights).

Vehicle burglary. 5000 block Aurora Drive.

Drug arrest. 10800 block Hampton Mill Terrace.

Vehicle burglary. 11100 block Rockville Pike (Pike District).

Vehicle burglary. McDonald's (Pike District).

Theft. 6500 block Windermere Circle.

Vehicle burglary. Harris Teeter (Pike District).