Hillandale Road reopening today in Bethesda

Hillandale Road, which has been closed since last October at Little Falls Parkway, will reopen today to automobile traffic. The pedestrian/bike path affected by the construction will remain closed a bit longer, however. 

A failure of the culvert running under the road led to the shutdown, and the reopening was delayed about a month due to the difficulty in obtaining the custom pipe needed for the project.

Photo courtesy of Montgomery County DOT Division of Highway Services

Bethesda construction update: Hillandale Road (Photo)

Much progress has been made on the reconstruction of Hillandale Road, and the culvert that runs under part of it. The Montgomery County Department of Transportation's Division of Highway Services has been installing the new drainage tunnel since the custom-ordered pipe arrived in April.

As you can see in this new photo, what was an exposed pipe a few weeks ago is now part of the landscape again. Hillandale Road has been closed since October at Little Falls Parkway.

Hillandale Road repairs continue in Bethesda (Photos)

Hillandale Road was forecast to have reopened by May, but work continues on the replacement of a culvert that failed under part of the road last fall. The Montgomery County Department of Transportation's Division of Highway Services sent these photos of the progress. From top to bottom, these are in chronological order.

A lack of suppliers for the pipe you see in the photos here was a major reason for the long repair timeframe. Hillandale Road remains closed between Little Falls Parkway and Willett Parkway until the job is completed.

Partial closure of Little Falls Parkway trail for Hillandale Rd. repair (Photos)

If you use the Little Falls Stream Valley Trail, a portion will be temporarily closed near Hillandale Road. A detour will be posted, according to the Montgomery County Division of Highway Services. No reopening date for that trail section has been given, but the Hillandale Road culvert project is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

Photos: Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row
Map: Montgomery County Division of Highway Services

Hillandale Road could reopen in 6 weeks - what took so long? The story:

Residents who use Hillandale Road regularly ask me what's taking so long to reopen the road. As you may recall, Montgomery County was forced to close the road last October after a culvert failed. At the time, engineers estimated the road could be closed for up to six months.

The worst case scenario indeed played out, as the MCDOT's Division of Highway Services yesterday announced the fix is finally underway, and could allow the road to open on-schedule in six weeks if all goes well.

What was the holdup?

According to MCDOT, it turned out that the needed multi-plate pipe was only available from one vendor. That Florida vendor could only recently deliver the pipe to Maryland.

I noticed something was up at the site last week. The barricades were haphazardly moved aside one day, and a county police cruiser was parked on the road near the Bethesda public pool. By the next day, the barricades were back up again.

At last the end of the tunnel is nearing for Hillandale Road. I have to say, though, that the closure greatly sped up trips on Little Falls Parkway for two reasons. Obviously, there was no red light at that intersection, and, second, there wasn't that problem of people jamming the right lane of the parkway by making slow turns onto Hillandale.

In fact, given Hillandale's reduced role in accessing downtown Bethesda, the reopening could be a minor negative for some drivers who are just trying to get to and from Arlington Road.

HILLANDALE ROAD NOW ENTIRELY CLOSED NEAR LITTLE FALLS PARKWAY IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

The portion of Hillandale Road between Little Falls Parkway and Willett Parkway is now closed indefinitely in both directions. A recent partial collapse of a culvert pipe below the road had caused the inbound lane to close. Now that section of the road is entirely closed, and drivers are being asked to use Arlington Road to detour around it. A statement from Montgomery County Government says that the road section will remain closed "for an undetermined amount of time."