Updated at 12:40 p.m.: Due to weather conditions, two lanes of Rockville Pike expected to be closed Wednesday night now will be closed from 10 p.m. Thursday through 5 a.m. Friday between Wilson Drive and Woodmont Avenue in Bethesda to allow the installation of a new crosswalk at the Medical Center Metro Station.
The lane closures will vary during the installation and likely will start in the southbound lanes and move west to east to the northbound side, according to Montgomery County government officials.
Also, the right-hand southbound lane of Rockville Pike will be closed between 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Friday between Wilson Drive and Woodmont Avenue, according to Phil Alperson, the county’s military installations and BRAC coordinator. There will be no impact to any of the area’s bus or shuttle stops and both South and Gateway drives will remain open.
The work is part of the ongoing construction of the Crossing Project at the Medical Center station, which will include building a pedestrian tunnel between NIH and Naval Support Activity Bethesda/Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and installing deep elevators on the Navy side of Rockville Pike to the Metrorail mezzanine. Construction is expected to be completed in 2021.
As part of the construction, a single controlled blast is now planned between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday, weather permitting.
A warning siren will sound approximately five minutes before the blast, and traffic on Rockville Pike will be halted in both directions for 10 minutes between Jones Bridge Road and the NIH entrance and the Navy’s South Gate at South Drive/South Wood Drive, according to Alperson.
Those nearest the blast site may detect minimal vibrations or noise from the warning siren.