Crane work closes Montgomery Avenue at Avocet Tower construction site; overnight lane closures through April (Photos)

Montgomery Avenue temporarily closed to traffic yesterday afternoon so that a crane could be used at the adjacent construction site of Avocet Tower. As I reported last week, expect lane and road closures there through Monday. There could be additional lane closures between 9:00 PM and 5:00 AM through April there, for installation of new duct banks for telecom and fiber services that will cross underneath Montgomery to Avocet Tower. 

Montgomery Parks installs closure gates on Little Falls Parkway

Little Falls Parkway in Bethesda will close to automobile traffic between Arlington and River Roads this morning at 7:00 AM, and remain closed until 6:00 PM tomorrow, Sunday, March 28, 2021. The same closure will occur every weekend this spring and summer. One thing has changed for 2021, as you can see here. Instead of the barrels and police tape used to barricade the road last year, Montgomery Parks has installed actual gates that can be manually swung open and closed.

Sangamore Road closures expected through April for pipeline replacement

A major natural gas pipeline replacement project on Sangamore Road near Walhonding Road in Bethesda will require lane and road closures on that stretch of Sangamore through mid-April. Washington Gas and contractor NPL will be performing the work between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM on weekdays, which is when those closures will take place as-needed.

Area impacted by pipeline project and
Sangamore Road detour (Massachusetts Ave.
shown in yellow) - click to enlarge

During the closures, drivers will have to detour from Massachusetts Avenue onto Marlyn Drive to make a right onto Namakagan Road, and then turn back onto Sangamore from Namakagan. Orange directional signs are now in place along the detour route. Sangamore Road drivers trying to reach Massschusetts Avenue will complete the detour route in reverse order by turning onto Namakagan.

WSSC work causes road closure

The WSSC returned to Woodmont Avenue last night for more mysterious work under the street. This time the road, rather than just certain lanes, was closed between Old Georgetown Road and Norfolk Avenue.

The lack of public announcement took drivers by surprise, including a J2 Metrobus driver who was shocked to find the bus route blocked last evening. However, while the closure was not announced in advance, the WSSC did tweet about the street closure on its Twitter account. The reason for the closure was not given.

Lane, road closures scheduled for SB Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda Ave. on September 14, 15, 21

The Maryland State Highway Administration has posted a digital sign announcing "SB Lane" of Wisconsin Avenue will be closed from 9:00 PM on September 14, 2019 to 9:00 AM September 15, 2019. It is placed by the Air Rights Building (a.k.a. Bethesda Crossing).

There are three southbound lanes of Wisconsin Avenue, one of which is already closed by 7272 Wisconsin Avenue, so this either means a second southbound lane will close as well, or the entire southbound side. But adding the word "lane" negates a total closure, which would just be "southbound Wisconsin."

Unfortunately, the SHA is not providing such details, nor the precise starting and ending points of the "SB Lane" closure. Perhaps SHA should spend less time on local politics, and more time getting their sign messages correct.

It would be best to just detour around this using Woodmont Avenue during the closure period.

A second sign placed along Wisconsin north of Elm Street on Tuesday states that Bethesda Avenue will be closed on September 14, 2019 and again on September 21, 2019.

Tree falls on Hillandale Road in Bethesda (Photos)

A sizable tree fell across Hillandale Road between Little Falls Parkway and Bradley Boulevard last night. The road was blocked late last evening. I heard no public announcement about this from Montgomery County authorities as of this morning.

Cheval Bethesda condos crane removal will require road closure Saturday (Photos)

The Cheval Bethesda ultra-luxury condo tower is really entering the home stretch. This weekend, the tower crane will be removed from the construction site. That will require Fairmont Avenue to close between Old Georgetown Road and Norfolk Avenue this Saturday, April 1, starting at 7:00 AM. In case of bad weather, the crane will be removed on Sunday instead.

A lot of windows are now in place on the building. If you've been following my reports from the beginning, you'll recall the lower floors of the building are parking decks. What's interesting is that they've made glass windows that give those levels the cosmetic appearance of also being residential like the upper floors. Some buildings will simply leave garage levels with open-air punchouts, in comparison.

Duball, LLC is the developer of the Cheval Bethesda. The 17-story tower will house 72 condo units, and 7000 SF of non-residential space. Prices will be in the ultra-luxury tier: From the $900,000s to over $2.5 million. A sales gallery is located at 7706 Woodmont Avenue.

The angular curved facade
is really the signature
architectural trademark of
this building, along with
its height as the tallest
condo structure in town

Believe it or not, these are
garage parking decks, not
residential floors

The Cheval is the newest of 3
additions to this block of
Fairmont Avenue, joining
Bainbridge Bethesda (L) and
7770 Norfolk (center-right)

Elm Street Pepco project update (Photos)

A section of Elm Street between Wisconsin Avenue and Woodmont Avenue has been closed for a week now in downtown Bethesda. Pepco is relocating utilities in preparation for construction of a south entrance to the Bethesda Metro station at Elm and Wisconsin. 

Wisconsin Avenue in front of
the vacant gas station that will be
redeveloped by Bainbridge 

Lines designating Pepco
underground utilities along
Wisconsin Avenue sidewalk

Digging up the infrastructure extends beyond Elm, though. Part of it is along the sidewalk on Wisconsin Avenue north of Elm Street. The work is expected to take another seven months and three weeks to complete.

Downtown Bethesda's future
in the hands of pharmacists

Two SB Wisconsin Avenue closures to watch out for today in Bethesda (Photos)

Be prepared for lane closures on southbound Wisconsin Avenue between Battery Lane and Commerce Lane this weekend. Today, southbound Wisconsin will be closed between 9:00 AM and 9:00 PM between Battery Lane and Cordell Avenue. This is the "rain date" for raising some heavy equipment up to the roof of 8200 Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, down between Norfolk Avenue and Commerce Lane, you may encounter the far right lane of southbound Wisconsin being closed, as demolition of the Connor Building proceeds.