Pearl Street, between East-West Highway and Montgomery Avenue in downtown Bethesda, will become a one-way street during construction of a Class A office building at the former McDonald's location.
According to the developer of 4500 East-West Highway, the southbound lane of Pearl Street will be closed indefinitely "on or about" February 18, 2013.
For the duration of the building construction, Pearl Street will be a one-way, southbound-only street. Drivers will be unable to turn left onto Pearl from Montgomery Avenue.
Reader Diarmaid McGleenan submitted this aerial-view photo of the former East-West Highway McDonald's site. The restaurant was demolished a while ago. At the top of the lot is the auger that just finished drilling for the installation of the steel I-beams you see around the perimeter of the growing hole.
The excavation machine is already filling dump trucks, and eventually a crane will arrive onsite.
