Sidewalk work on Cordell Avenue

Sidewalk repairs are being performed on Cordell Avenue near Norfolk Avenue in Bethesda. A portion of the eastbound sidewalk is blocked off for the work. 

Sidewalk reopens on Wisconsin Avenue side of Marriott construction site in Bethesda (Photos)

Here's something not seen for several years - an open sidewalk along southbound Wisconsin Avenue (MD 355) at 7750 Wisconsin in downtown Bethesda. Sidewalks slowly opened up around the site as the office tower and hotel project nears completion. Both are scheduled to open next year.

Norfolk Avenue sidewalk reopens by Marriott HQ site

The sidewalk along the south side of Norfolk Avenue between Wisconsin and Woodmont Avenues has reopened to pedestrians. It has been closed for more than three years, due to construction of the new Marriott International headquarters. The sidewalk along the Wisconsin side of the Marriott site remains closed. 

Norfolk Avenue sidewalk project completed

The sidewalk project along Norfolk Avenue between Wisconsin and Woodmont Avenues, and in front of Reddz Trading, is now completed. Pedestrians can once again use the sidewalk along Norfolk, Woodmont and Wisconsin.

Sidewalk work on Norfolk Ave. between Woodmont & Wisconsin in Bethesda

Pedestrians may want to detour around a project that affected access to the sidewalk yesterday on the block of Norfolk Avenue between Woodmont and Wisconsin Avenues. Work wraps around in front of Reddz Trading on Woodmont, and also impacts the sidewalk on southbound Wisconsin.

Sidewalk at 7900 Wisconsin Ave. closed through Nov. 30, lane closure ahead

Add another construction-related sidewalk closure in downtown Bethesda to the list. The sidewalk in front of 7900 Wisconsin Avenue has closed. According to the posted sidewalk closure notice, it will remain closed at the JBG Smith construction site through November 30. Give the company credit for actually posting the required closure information sign - many construction sites around town in recent years have failed to do so.

The curb lane will also close for construction staging and site access for an unspecified length of time, sure to add to the commuting woes on already-jammed Wisconsin. Workers will demolish the existing sidewalk and covered pedestrian shelter during this next phase of construction.

Right SB lane of Wisconsin Ave. closed at Marriott HQ site (Photos)

The right southbound lane of Wisconsin Avenue (MD 355) has been closed alongside the Marriott headquarters construction site south of Norfolk Avenue in Bethesda. Barriers have been placed at the edge of the lane to allow pedestrians to use the curb lane in lieu of the sidewalk, but only when demolition work is not active. However, pedestrian use will be barred during actual demolition near the street. The closures are scheduled to last more than two months, which will have a severe impact on both pedestrians and commuter auto traffic in the morning.

Sidewalk reopens, but drilling truck remains

The sidewalk and public parking garage pedestrian entrance on Cordell Avenue reopened a day after they had been mysteriously blocked off alongside a large drilling truck. But a week later, the truck is still there, taking up several public parking spaces that could be used by patrons of restaurants on Cordell.

There are covers over the meter heads. I presume we the taxpayers are being compensated for the lost meter money for all of these days. But there remains no evidence of any actual drilling being performed here.

Drilling equipment blocks sidewalk, garage pedestrian entrance in Bethesda (Photos)

A drilling company blocked the sidewalk and a pedestrian entrance to a public parking garage on Cordell Avenue last evening. No actual work was being done at the time, and the area was simply blocked off and left unattended. No signage was posted to explain to the public what the heck is going on.

Sidewalks close on both sides of 7900 Wisconsin project in Bethesda

Well, there was that covered sidewalk that appeared in front of 7900 Wisconsin Avenue last week. But now it has closed, and so has the sidewalk behind JBG Smith's future 7900 Wisconsin project along Woodmont Avenue.

As of this morning, the north end of the covered sidewalk was open, but it was still sealed off at the southern end. Not much help to the pedestrian. Let's hope they're working on something that actually requires these closures for a reasonable amount of time. Even in that case, there should be a sign posted detailing the length of the closure.

Digital sign warns pedestrians at dangerous Bethesda sidewalk closure (Photos)

The sidewalk remains closed in front of the Apex Building at 7272 Wisconsin Avenue, despite no obvious demolition operations being underway at the street side of the structure. Impatient pedestrians continue to jaywalk into oncoming traffic to avoid having to cross the street. Recently, the developer has brought in off-duty police officers to give warnings to jaywalkers. They are not there around the clock, and people continue to walk in the street, so it was more of a PR move than a solution.

Now a police sign trailer has been set up on Wisconsin, warning jaywalkers of fines for entering the roadway. It's not working, as you can see below. The Montgomery County Council has been silent on the issue, which they could have prevented by stipulating a covered sidewalk and closure restrictions in the Purple Line and minor master plan agreements. Once again, the Council has proven impotent on quality of life issues, and basic government matters like pedestrian safety.

Pedestrians enter the roadway
to get around Apex Building
sidewalk closure last night

Sidewalk closes at 7900 Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda (Photos)

Let's hope that The JBG Companies will limit this sidewalk closure to the actual demolition of the front of 7900 Wisconsin Avenue (unlike the expansive, open-ended closure down the street at the Apex Building), because pedestrians are already entering the roadway at this location now.

Pedestrians are entering the roadway
to get around the total sidewalk closure

Although police have been seen intercepting jaywalkers at the Apex closure, they are not there around the clock, and the danger remains. With major projects ahead on Wisconsin like the Marriott headquarters and the Toll Brothers' 8008 Wisconsin condos, the chance for significant casualties is high if elected officials don't demand covered sidewalks remain open.

Apex sidewalk closure complaint filed, closed by Montgomery County

The dangerous sidewalk closure in front of the Apex Building at 7272 Wisconsin Avenue continues to stun many, including a Twitter user who filed a 311 complaint with Montgomery County. A County inspector was sent out to investigate, and declared it was a matter in the State of Maryland's jurisdiction. 

"No visible [sidewalk closure] permit or ANY pedestrian accomodations. How is this legal?" tweeted Daniel Warwick to @311MC311.

MC 311 has declared the matter "closed," to Warwick's surprise. The Montgomery County Council remains silent on the closure.

MoCo government's death wish Apex sidewalk closure has pedestrians running for their lives (Video + Photos)

Two men walk in the roadway
head-on toward oncoming traffic
on Wisconsin Avenue last evening

Eleven days after Carr Properties inexplicably closed the sidewalk and a southbound lane of Wisconsin Avenue in front of the Apex Building, Montgomery County officials have failed to take action. As they leisurely twiddle their thumbs, pedestrians are doing what we've learned they'll do over the last few years of sidewalk closures - entering the roadway. Last night, hundreds of pedestrians leaving work to head to the Bethesda Metro station walked head on into oncoming traffic in the 7200 block of Wisconsin Avenue, to get around the closure.

Commuters walking towards
Bethesda Metro station in
roadway at 7272 Wisconsin after
leaving work

Virtually no one was taking the laborious detour of crossing busy Wisconsin, walking up the east sidewalk, and then crossing back over to the Metro station side further north. There were several heart stopping moments, such as a man realizing the light had changed ahead, and that he was about to walk into speeding southbound traffic. Panicked, the man ran for his life, as you can see here.

Man walking in roadway
(center of GIF image)
toward southbound traffic
runs for his life, as he realizes
light further up is changing

Walking into the roadway is technically illegal, but as we saw on Fairmont Avenue three years ago(!!) and elsewhere, it is standard behavior when a developer fails to provide a pedestrian walkway alongside a project. So County officials knew this would happen, and that - especially considering we're talking about a major state highway and commuter route here - there's a good chance someone will be killed in the process. Yet they've failed to act at any point to avoid this situation.

The life-and-death pedestrian drama we're watching now represents a threefold failure of government, in a county where government increasingly cannot deliver the basic functions we pay taxes for. During its current term, the County Council has tackled teenage tanning beds, Styrofoam, backyard insecticides and "healthy vending machines." Meanwhile, outside their now-fortified headquarters at 100 Maryland Avenue, trash isn't being picked up, the 911 service failed, and pedestrian safety is an afterthought for developer-beholden politicians.

Failure 1: The Montgomery County Planning Board and County Council failed to require the sidewalks and roadway remain open in their Minor Master Plan Amendment on the Apex Building. In fact, they stipulated very little, as Capital Crescent Trail advocates were horrified to learn recently. This was a guiding document that the County had full control over. They were in a position to make any demands or requirements they felt necessary, as the potential developer could only redevelop this site with their approval. Only their reliance on developer campaign contributions can explain why they would not have thought through all of the potential problems, and addressed them in the agreement.

Failure 2: Montgomery County officials are claiming they have no idea what Carr Properties is up to, or why the Maryland State Highway Administration allowed Carr to shut down the sidewalk and southbound lane. Huh?! That is an astonishing admission. This is a public-private partnership project related to the Purple Line, and partner Montgomery County doesn't know what its other two partners are doing, or even what the schedule is? Embarrassing.

Failure 3: Once learning that a situation they should have known would happen has happened, County officials have failed to act, or have again been proven to be impotent, and unable to move their partners to do anything. I thought that we would see some action Monday, but as business hours ended last evening, nothing had been done. In fact, one citizen contacted 311 - as we're told to do to "get it done" - early Monday morning. By day's end? Nothing had been "done."

There is absolutely no reason for a lane to be closed on Wisconsin Avenue for six months, or the next three years. The Apex Building exterior structure isn't even being demolished at this time! That is an egregious misuse of public property and right-of-way, on one of the most congested roads in the D.C. region. And there is no reason for not having a covered walkway, as Washington Property Company provided down the road during their construction of the Solaire Bethesda apartments.

Two cities, Seattle and Raleigh, have been dealing with this using modified shipping containers with interior lighting. New York City doesn't allow the kind of sidewalk closures Montgomery County has, yet has more construction than Bethesda will ever have. The Council passed not one, but two, laws that would supposedly reduce or forbid such dangerous sidewalk closures. But it has failed to enforce either one of them.

Apologists for the Council will claim this is the state's fault, but the reality is, there are currently other sidewalk closures around downtown Bethesda on County roads, and the Council hasn't acted on a single one of them. And it's simply beyond belief that the County Council has never discussed these most basic logistical issues with their two partners. Are you kidding me? No trash, no 911, and now we hear that they don't discuss logistics on a billion dollar project, with taxpayer money on the line? Don't ever tell me again that we are getting "highly-qualified" councilmembers, for their outrageous $137,000-a-year salaries.

Is this hands-off policy again driven by their reliance on developers for campaign funds? Is the Council so inept and impotent that Pete Rahn and Carr Properties are just laughing at them behind their backs at this point? And perhaps if the County's Bethesda regional services center took the time they spend putting links into taxpayer-funded emails to boost traffic and revenue for a local small and slightly-failing magazine, and spent it instead on the sidewalk issue, we wouldn't have people running for their lives on Wisconsin Avenue.