Bethesda Metro Station closed though September 6

 

From July 6 through September 6, the Red Line is closed between North Bethesda and Friendship Heights. That means Grosvenor-Strathmore, Medical Center, and Bethesda stations are closed. This is so that some track work can be done and so that the a mezzanine at the new south entrance to Bethesda Station can be built.

 Here in Bethesda, the escalators at the bus bays down to the station are blocked off and there are many signs directing you.  There was also a friendly person who gave me a flyer and told me where everything was.

Temporary shuttle stop

There are express buses that run from North Bethesda directly to Friendship Heights and local buses that stop at all the stations.  The shuttle stop southbound (pictured) is at Wisconsin Avenue and Montgomery Lane, where the metro elevator is located and near the old post office building. The northbound stop is at Wisconsin Avenue and East-West Highway, directly across from the station entrance and next to the building with a tunnel to the metro in it. 

Northbound shuttle stop

Here's a Red Line shuttle metrobus stopped at the temporary shuttle stop across from the metro station.  The two people on the left are there to help you find your way.  Not many people got on this bus but a number of people got off, this was on Sunday morning (today)

This was also this morning. The two yellow buses are express shuttles, the sign above the window would alternate between "Red Line" and "Express". on the left you can see a Metrobus that is being used as the Red Line Local shuttle.  This is Southbound on Wisconsin Avenue at Old Georgetown Road.

I took this photo on Friday before 9 am.  This is the temporary bus lane that runs southbound on Wisconsin Avenue.  The bus lane is only active Monday-Saturday, on Sundays anyone can use it. 

 

Paris Baguette in Bethesda

Paris Baguette, located at 4925 Fairmont Avenue in the Woodmont Triangle part of Bethesda offers coffee and baked goods as well as sandwiches. I went last week and had a croissant with ham and cheese in it. 

One really nice thing about Paris Baguette is they have a large area of self service croissants and other bakery items that you can choose from. After selecting what you want, just bring it to the register to pay.

Sandwiches and cakes are also available, you have to ask at the counter.  One thing I didn't see much of were baguettes, I only saw a single basket of them. 

Outside Paris Baguette. It is located in the Sophia Bethesda building across the pedestrian walkway from Ellis Bethesda.

Kenwood Cherry Blossoms

 

Over the weekend, the cherry blossoms were at their peak.  No need to go all the way to the Tidal Basin, Bethesda's Kenwood neighborhood has blossoms a-plenty.  I went on Sunday, along with lots and lots of other people.

 

Carter sticks his tongue out at the No Barking sign (thanks Pete)

 

Driving through the neighborhood was possible, but slow and undoubtedly frustrating.  There were also "No Parking" signs posted on many of the streets (and about an equal number of "No Barking" but that didn't seem to be much of a problem. 

 Hundreds of people and families were out walking around, or sitting in the common areas enjoying the weather.

 

There were a number of places that kids were selling lemonade and this one humorous sign advocating a lemonade tax.

 

I also posted about the Kenwood cherry blossoms in 2022. 

 

 

 

 

Construction at 4725 Cheltenham Drive

 The Chetlenham is a new multi-family residential building being constructed on Chetlenham Drive where the old Midas car repair shop was.  It is next to the CVS and on the other side of Wisconsin Avenue from the Marriott headquarters in downtown Bethesda, Maryland. I first posted about this in May of last
year.

  

The back of the building.  There is an alley to the left of the building which will remain.

 

According to the plan, it will be a 76,841 square foot nine-story building with 102 units including 8 live/work units.  There will be no on-site car parking, however there will be 53 long-term and 2 short-term bicycle parking spaces.  There is a public garage (number 42) directly across the street. Cheltenham Urban Park is also next door to the building.  

 

This building is surrounded by the CVS parking lot. Here you can see the CVS in the background to the left.

 

Back 'n Side

The view from near the CVS entrance at the back and one side of the building.

New electric car chargers coming in Bethesda

I noticed that the public county garage on Woodmont Ave and Edgemoor Lane is getting some level 2 Chargepoint chargers.  This is officially Garage 49, the Metropolitan Garage, it is the one close to Bethesda Metro Station. Level G1 four dual-port chargers. (Oddly, it looks like there are two spaces in the middle that aren't getting chargers.) There is also a dual-port L2 charger being installed at the handicap space near the Woodmont entrance.

 

Capital Crescent Trail, after the snow

 

I took a walk on the Capital Crescent Trail between River Road and Downtown Bethesda today.  The trail is clear to bare pavement the whole way there.  There were a lot of people out walking and a few people running or biking on the trail.  The county has done a very good job clearing it this storm. 

Capital Crescent Trail at Little Falls Parkway

 

 

Bikeshare Bike

This bikeshare station along River Road at the Capital Crescent trail has been visited by the bike angels post-snow storm.  There were two red bikesare bikes and one electric bike at the station and the wheels were on top of the snow (and you could see tire tracks on top of the snow) so they were clearly added post-storm.

River Road in the snow

The road itself is clear, but the bike lanes and sidewalks are not.  People have to walk along the partially cleared lane, or, like the guy at the top, run down the suicide lane in the middle.

Breakdown

Two people were putting gas in this bobcat in the suicide lane on River Road.  Not sure if that was the only problem or if other issues were also there.  Notice that the right lane in both directions is full of snow and not passable.

 

I saw someone on a side trail skiing.

 

 

 

 

Snow in Bethesda

Yesterday we got about 7 inches of snow and sleet in Bethesda, Maryland.  I walked around downtown Bethesda this afternoon (roughly 3pm-4pm) to see how the city is recovering.  Overall, the main roads are in decent shape.  Often at least one of the lanes isn't fully plowed, but there aren't many cars out right now so that isn't a real issue. It may be in the coming days as people go back to work though. A lot of the sidewalks are clear in the downtown area, but not all of them are, especially problematic are along Old Georgetown Road and along Wisconsin Avenue, as well as at intersections where snow has been piled up by plows.

Some snow on Old Georgetown

Old Georgetown Road had at least two lanes clear, but in some places there was still a little bit of loose snow on the road. 

More snow on Old Georgetown

Snow on Wisconsin

 

Walking in the road

The blocked sidewalks and high snow at intersections is forcing these folks to walk in the road on Wisconsin Avenue.  This is dangerous for everyone involved.

Capital Crescent Trail: plowed to the asphalt

Bike Lane

The separated bike lane on Woodmont Avenue had been cleared at some point, but is now covered with snow again.

 

Snowy sidewalk on St. Elmo

Uncleared sidewalk on Woodmont

Not all neighborhood streets are plowed

 

Clearing Bethesda Lane

 

All that snow has to go somewhere, in places it is piled quite high

No Broccoli

 Fresh vegetables were in short supply at Lidl this afternoon.  There was no fresh broccoli in the store.  There was, however, frozen broccoli, whic is just as good for you so I got that instead.

 

 

Bethesda Metro Station construction

 Bethesda Metro Station is getting a new south entrance and connection to the future Purple Line light rail.  Work has been going on inside the station for a while.  On Wednesday I took photos of the status.

 At the far (southern) end of the station a wall panel is removed and you can see the real walls behind it.  The area is open behind the red plywood.  When the station was built they envisioned a future south entrance so left a knock-out panel for it. 

 To give you a sense of scale, at the very center of the plywood is a full-sized door, so I think the opening is 12 feet tall.  It seems a bit close to the tracks for a bridge over the tracks but I guess not. 

False Walls

I never knew the curved concrete walls of the station were removable panels and the real station walls weren't curved.  Here you can see the gap between the real wall and the apparent wall.

The new entrance will be located on Elm Street near Wisconsin Avenue and  will only have elevators, no escalator to the metro station.  A mezzanine will be built over the south end of the platform to allow access to the trains.

 

Fossil extension cord

I can't be 100 percent sure, but it really looks like when they poured the original concrete station walls they left an extension cord there and it left this serpentine outline.

 

Station in July 2025

 Here's how the station looked last July, the concrete panel that has since been removed was still up on the right side of the picture and they were still building the work areas on the platform. 

 

More information:

•  WRA page about their work
•  Montgomery Planning page about the entrance
•  Bethesda Today article about escalating costs

Bethesda Community Store expansion

Bethesda Community Store porch

 

Call Your Mother moved out of the parking lot of Bethesda Community Store ("Browns") a while ago. For some time the lot was empty with a fence around it, but now they are expanding the original building. Now the building is being significantly expanded. The new version will be over double the size of the old. (Of course, the old building was really, really small)

The wood flooring and supports for the front porch are being replaced.  There isn't very much left of the original building. 

 

Expanding Browns

The original building is just the porch and the left section.  They took out the walls on both sides (and the back I believe) leaving only the floor, front wall, porch, and roof as original.  The rest is entirely new.

The lot

 The store is situated on the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Greentree Road (incidently, Latitude 39 degrees runs through the parking lot). Here is the lot as seen from the parking lot entrance on Greentree Road. Picnic tables and a shed are at the back right and the store is back left. The part with a white roof is all new construction.

Browns from across Greentree

Here is the view from across Greentree road. The black clad construction fence obscures most of what is going on.

As a kid my parents would sometimes take me to Browns to get lunch. I always got a Ham, Lettuce, and Tomato on Rye, it was the best. The store seemed really small even (and it had gray trim, not red). It was really just the deli counter, some snacks, and the cash register.  That version of the store has been long gone and the building has been unused since 2016, Call Your Mother deli had a food truck/trailer in the parking lot starting in 2020 but that's it.
 

Construction on Cheltenham Drive

Construction and CVS

Most of the construction in Bethesda ends up being on the west side of Wisconsin Avenue, but here is some on the east side.  The old Midas auto repair location next to the CVS pharmacy has been torn down.  It will be replaced with a mixed-use residential building with up to 102 residential units as well as up to 8 live/work units. You read the site plan here.

Cheltenham Drive and demolition

 This is a pretty small piece of property, 110 units seems like a lot. The maximum height allowable is 90 feet. The average space per unit works out to only 710 square feet (probably a bit smaller due to walls and hallways).

From behind

 Anyone else remember when Midas was called "Midas Mufflers" and they specialized in replacing (wait for it)...mufflers?