Street Beat: Lane Closure Planned for Portion of Rockville Pike, April 5 – 7, in Bethesda

There will be lane closures on a portion of Rockville Pike next week while crews from the Montgomery County Department of Transportation install a construction entrance for the Multimodal Crossing Project, a pedestrian underpass beneath the road, at the Medical Center Metro station in Bethesda.

According to county officials, one right lane and the road shoulder in the northbound direction of Rockville Pike will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 5 – 7, weather permitting. The lane closures will take place between Jones Bridge Road and South Wood Drive, in front of Naval Support Activity Bethesda (NSAB), home of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

In addition to the pedestrian underpass, the Multimodal Crossing Project includes deep elevators to the Metrorail mezzanine on the east side of Rockville Pike at the entrance to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and NSAB, and improvements at the nearby intersection of Rockville Pike and Jones Bridge Road.

According to background information, the Crossing Project was conceived following the federal BRAC law enacted in 2005 and implemented in 2011, which mandated an increase of personnel at NSAB by nearly 45 percent and doubled the number of annual campus visits to approximately one million.

County officials said daily pedestrian crossings of Rockville Pike at Walter Reed/NSAB have increased from 3,000 prior to 2011 to 7,000 after 2011. The Crossing Project is expected to enhance safety for Metrorail passengers, commuter buses, carpools and neighborhood pedestrians to and from the Walter Reed/NSAB campus.

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