Long-term roadwork on Eastbound Democracy at Fernwood

 

The work area west of Fernwood Rd

 Pepco is doing some emergency utility work on Westbound Democracy Boulevard at Fernwood Drive. This closes the right two lanes of Democracy Blvd, so only a single lane gets by.  This work could take as many as four months to complete, though the variable signs along the road say they will be done by mid-May.

  Pepco will work 7 days a week from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm but 24 hour work may be needed some of the time.  As you can see from the photos, they have put up jersey barriers in the construction area, so the lane closures are 24 hours a day, even if they aren't working.

Westbound on Democracy before Fernwood Rd

 The lane closure starts on the east side of the Fernwood Road, There is a length of road closed of by cones, before coming to a crash barrier and jersey wall protecting the workers.  They are doing work on both sides of the intersection.

 Pepco is working on restoring a fluid-filled underground transmission feeder that is part of their transmission network supporting distribution facilities throughout Montgomery County.

 

The solution to the housing crisis?

 Pepco has built a shed in the middle of the road to make it easier to complete the work.  Or, perhaps, the county is considering converting the two right lanes of all major streets into affordable housing.

Working on the east side

 A bit closer view of the work being done at Democracy Blvd and Fernwood Rd. And, yeah, still snow after all these weeks.

 

Update March 16: It looks like they got done much earlier than expected.  I drove by today and everything is cleaned up and all lanes are open. 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

Bike lanes on Fernwood in the Rockspring/Rockledge area

Fernwood north of Democracy

Fernwood Road, near where the new "Grandview" senior living community is going in has been under construction for a while.  There was even a time where one direction was entirely closed.  This is between Democracy Blvd and Montgomery Mall. (Not sure what they call it now, maybe WestLakeField Montgomery ShoppingMallTown?)

 For a while it wasn't clear exactly what they were doing, but now you can clearly see that separated bike lanes are going in.  They were starting to pave them when I went by. (The red dump truck on the left was delivering blacktop.)  

Fernwood and Rock Spring Dr

 Here at the Rock Spring Drive intersection you can get a good look at the new bike lanes. To the left, behind the trees is where the Marriott headquarters was.  One of the new residential buildings can be seen peeking over the trees.

Fernwood and Rockledge

 They are working on what I think will be the main entrance to the Grandview on the left.  Going up the hill (which is the bridge over I-270) the bike lanes are fully in and paved.

The start

 This is facing the other direction on the bridge.  The separated bike lanes start here right behind the arrow sign.  It's a bit unclear how this spot will look when they are done.

Fernwood near Democracy / The other end

They aren't nearly as far along at the Democracy end of Fernwood.  They haven't even gotten the sidewalk replaced.  Since there are 3 lanes of traffic here (two left-only onto Democracy and one right-only onto Democracy. There is no straight to continue on Fernwood, even though just the other day I saw someone go straight here).

Out with the new

They clearly made a mistake at some point, because they were tearing up a newly laid section of curb.
 

 

New sound barrier on the outer loop

The new Amalyn housing development in Bethesda is between Interstate 495 and the Interstate 270 spur. This means it gets road noise.  A partial solution is to install a sound wall, and that is what is happening right now on the outer loop of I-495.  Construction on the wall started in June of 2024 and is getting close to being completed.
 

 If you drive along I-495 between Fernwood Road and Greentree Road, you have probably been noticing the construction as it progresses. In places the wall is very close to the road.

This is the current end of the sound wall, next to Greentree Road.

Here at the end of the barrier, it is set a couple of feet below ground level.  Most other parts of it are near the surface.

Here's the wall as seen from the other side of the interstate.  There is an access door in the wall.

They weren't actively working when I was there but the equipment is waiting for them to return.  Greentree Rd is on the right.

 

A new sound wall at Amalyn

 

The new Amalyn housing development in Bethesda is nestled against Interstate 495and the Interstate 270 spur.  This means you can get a lot of road noise.  Most of the road already has sound walls, but since this area wasn't already developed there isn't any here.  With over 300 houses and townhouses going in, there is a need for some sound abatement and a sound wall is being installed between the development and I-495.

This stretch of the outer between Fernwood Rd and Greentree Rd has temporary jersey barriers closing the shoulder. In a couple of places the trees have been removed all the way to the road.

A surprisingly wide swath of trees have been removed so the wall can be installed.

In a few areas ground up tree parts and root balls are piled up. Most of the tree trunks have been removed in long segments and are stacked up in other areas of the development.

The new sound wall will connect to the existing wall here.  Someone had moved a couch and a chair here to make a smoking area where you could enjoy the smell of cigarettes and burned gasoline while taking in the sounds of heavy traffic. How enjoyable.

New right turn arrow at Fernwood and Democracy

 

A month or two ago they put a "No Turn on Red" sign for the right turn from Democracy Blvd east onto Fernwood Rd south.  This caused significant backups in the morning and evening rush as people had to wait to turn even when there was no one around.  Today they fixed it by adding a right turn arrow at the intersection.

This arrow is green when the northbound Fernwood Rd traffic has a green light.  This lets a lot more cars turn onto Fernwood Rd and this evening there was no line of people waiting.

 

Fernwood Rd at Democracy Blvd intersection improvements completed

Those of you who regularly drive Fernwood Rd might be thinking "that intersection was finished months ago, why are you just posting it now?" Well, it isn't really done until the lane markings are there and there have only been temporary ones until recently. Now it is "done done" and we can celebrate.

Looking north on Fernwood, this is where the bulk of the changers are, instead of one right and one left turn lane there are two left turn lanes and one right turn lane.  For better or for worse, you still can't go straight through the intersection.

Nice bold turn arrows, and wide crosswalk stripes.

Finally there is a crosswalk to cross Democracy Blvd on the East side of Fernwood.  You used to have to cross Fernwood, then cross Democracy, then cross Fernwood again in order to walk north on Fernwood after Democracy.

The north side of the intersection, this is the crosswalk crossing Fernwood Road. Democracy Boulevard is on the left.

 

A good week for snow in Bethesda

 

Southbound on Old Georgetown Road at Democracy Blvd

It's been a good week for snow here in Bethesda.  At the beginning of the week we got 4+ inches which closed school on Tuesday and Wednesday, then last night and today we got another 3 or so.  School was again closed.  By this afternoon the accumulation had mostly stopped though there were still flurries coming down.

The roads are wet but clear. Bike lanes, on the other hand, are not clear. There doesn't appear to be a plan for clearing them.

Looking south on Old Georgetown Road

This is the intersection with Cheshire Drive, at the south end of Wildwood.  Driving is fine now but things will freeze up overnight so consider curling up with a cup of hot cocoa tonight instead of going out.

Wildwood parking lot

Parking lots are not in as good shape as the roads, but they were actively clearing them at both Wildwood and Georgetown Square.

It's the 40th annual Turkey Chase this morning

 

Battery Lane.  Currently you can only go one direction (Towards MD-355), the other direction is closed to vehicles.

 

It's Thanksgiving morning, and that means it is time to go for a pre-thanksgiving overload race.  This year the YMCA again sponsored the Turkey Chase 10k run and 2 mile walk/run.  This is the 40th annual run and it is back to being in-person.  You can also participate in some virtual evens now through the 28th. There is a virtual 10k, 5k, and 2 mile walk/run as well as a virtual 10 mile bike ride and 400 yard and 1 mile swim.

Old Georgetown Road and Lucas Lane

Northbound Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda has one lane closed.  Be careful if you are driving, runners sometimes pass other runners by going around the orange cones and entering the edge of the travel lane.

Old Georgetown Road and Greentree Road/South Drive

The Trucker's protest convoy makes it to Bethesda

 

The trucker's convoy protesting Covid restrictions made it's way down Interstate 270 through Bethesda just after noon today.  It wasn't just tractor trailers in this convoy, there were dump trucks, pickup trucks, RV's and cars too.

They were generally going around the speed limit and not interfering with other traffic.  Once they did slow to a stop for a short time but that was most likely because of the general traffic in the area.

In addition to plenty of United States flags there were trucks with Trump flags, flags that said "Let's Go Brandon", and some "2022 Freedom convoy" flags, as well as many other flags.  As they came up to the bridge many of them would honk their horns.

I was at the Democracy Road overpass and there was another guy and two police officers.  Before I left, another officer and another man had arrived.  The two police in the photo above were holding up a flag, taking selfies with it, and occasionally waving to the trucks going by

Some help for pedestrians at Old Georgetown and Cordell

The crosswalk to cross Old Georgetown Road at Cordell Avenue in downtown Bethesda, MD has always been a tough one.  There isn't a light there, and, although the crosswalk is well marked, it can be a bit hit-or-miss if people will stop for you.  There is a (small) improvement coming.  Along with signs at the side of the road pointing out the crosswalk, there will soon be flashing lights that can be activated by pedestrians wanting to cross.  These are good for two reasons, first, the flashing light makes the crosswalk stand out more, and second, it is clear that someone actually wants to cross and isn't just standing on the corner talking to someone.  The lights haven't been activated yet, there is cardboard covering the button to push, but soon they should be.

A burning tree along Fernwood road

 This morning a tree fell on a power line and caught fire on Fernwood Road by Interstate 495 in Bethesda, Montgomery County fire and Pepco responded, blocking off Fernwood Rd for a considerable period of time.

A Pepco employee watches the buring tree.  the tree was leaning against a power line.  While I was watching, there the fire flared up several times.