BETHESDA BOMB SQUAD ROBOTS IN ACTION ON WOODMONT AVENUE (VIDEO)

Here is video of two Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services bomb unit robots during last night's police investigation of an apparent bomb scare in a Bethesda parking lot. As of early this morning, Montgomery County Police and MCFRS have not yet given many specific details on the incident, which took place at Public Parking Lot 43 on Woodmont Avenue. The investigation required a block of Woodmont to close between Cordell and St. Elmo Avenues. Police reopened the road after 11:00 PM, but police and fire public information Twitter accounts were silent on the matter Tuesday night.

Despite the large police presence and road closure, relatively few downtown seemed overly concerned. Patrons at Sapphire Cafe, directly adjacent to the investigation, continued their fantasy football drafts.

UPDATE: POLICE CLOSE DOWN PART OF WOODMONT AVE. IN BETHESDA, BOMB SQUAD ON SCENE (VIDEO+PHOTOS)

UPDATE: 11:40 PM

Woodmont Avenue has reopened in Bethesda between Cordell and St. Elmo Avenues, after being shut down by police for several hours in an apparent bomb squad investigation. The area of interest appeared to be the adjacent Public Parking Lot 43 on Woodmont. Specific details of what police were looking for, and why, have not yet been released to the public. See below for video of the bomb squad robot in the 11:13 PM update.

UPDATE: 11:13 PM

Police are wrapping up the scene of an apparent bomb squad investigation, and reopening Woodmont Avenue. There have still been no specific details released to the public about this incident.

Here is a brief video of the bomb squad robot in action:

Montgomery County bomb
squad robot exits truck in
front of Bruce Variety
on Woodmont Avenue in
downtown Bethesda

UPDATE: 9:38 PM

Here are a couple of photos of the bomb squad robot - coming out of the truck, and getting some human assistance:

UPDATE: 9:25 PM

A bomb squad robot has been sent into the parking lot. That is the same lot where a witness said he was told by police he could not enter to retrieve his car. Still no public statement from police on what this is all about.


UPDATE: 9:15 PM

There is still no official word from Montgomery County Police regarding the closure of Woodmont Avenue between Cordell and St. Elmo Avenues in Bethesda this evening. However, I have identified a Montgomery County bomb squad vehicle on-scene. Parking Lot 43 is closed, and a man said police told him he was not allowed to enter the lot to retrieve his car, due to an "incident."

The Bethesda Circulator is being rerouted around the scene.

Original story:

Montgomery County Police have shut down Woodmont Avenue in the vicinity of Public Parking Lot 43, at 8009 Woodmont Avenue. Officers declined to comment on the reason, and would provide no details or information. Fire equipment is on-scene, as well.

I AM SHOCKED, SHOCKED WOODMONT AVE. WON'T REOPEN UNTIL 2015 (PHOTOS)

I think the biggest question about the briefly-promised reopening of Woodmont Avenue south of Bethesda Avenue is, why was it proposed to begin with? By my recollection, it was not originally planned to reopen at this stage of the Lot 31 development, anyway. The garage isn't ready, and neither building is near completion. Would it have been great to get it open? Sure.

But I was rightly skeptical when a mid-August reopening was first floated. How could a road be brought up to code with ADA and Bethesda Streetscape requirements from scratch in a couple of weeks? Then we found out how - with no such requirements or pedestrian access. Simply a two-lane cut-through for cars only. This did not seem to mesh with all of the trendy talk about walkable communities, pedestrian safety, "people over cars," bike lanes, and "complete streets" we hear so often in Montgomery County.

Then there were the confusing signs. No Pedestrian Access. Which worked so well on Fairmont Avenue, and still does along the former post office site on Arlington Road, right? Ask any driver who rounds the curve on Arlington, to find a couple of pedestrians' backs facing them in the roadway, how well it worked. Extremely unsafe, and the proposed Woodmont Driveway (to use a more accurate term) would have been dangerous as well, knowing that people were going to save a couple of minutes by plunging into oncoming traffic. One commenter on this blog made a good point about the very winding, bending nature of the road, too. Somehow, I doubt that's what the final road will be like - for safety purposes, if nothing else.

And no one ever explained the full implications (legal or otherwise) of the sign announcing that segment of Woodmont was not a publicly-maintained street. I had always assumed Woodmont would reopen as a finished street, maintained by the County.

Keeping Woodmont closed is hardly convenient for the general public. But inquiring minds want to know a couple of answers. What was the sudden rush to reopen, when nobody was expecting it anyway? And what specifically came to light regarding safety, that wasn't known when the original mid-August reopening date was given? It sounded unsafe from the beginning. And it didn't seem to make sense to have the developer and construction contractors spend the time and money on this, and then call it off.

WOODMONT WATCH: RESTART T-MINUS 24 HOURS IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

Here's how Woodmont Avenue looks south of Bethesda Avenue, just one day before it is scheduled to reopen (although the official language has been "on or about August 22." New signage again confirms that pedestrians will not be accommodated on the temporary 2-lane road. There are no bike lanes. There is also a sign stating that Woodmont Avenue is not a government-maintained road. Does anyone know what the implications of that are? Does it relate to liability issues if someone's car is damaged while driving on the road, or has an accident?

WOODMONT AVENUE REOPENING PUSHED BACK A WEEK IN BETHESDA

Woodmont Avenue south of Bethesda Avenue will now reopen a week later than expected, Montgomery County Department of Transportation Community Relations Manager Tom Pogue said in MyMCMedia report Friday. Pogue said August 22 is the new target date, but gave the standard "on or about" qualification. The street will be only 2 lanes. Lane striping was added Friday, but no bike lanes are yet designated. 

Pogue also confirmed that this segment of Woodmont will remain closed to pedestrians, despite a county law requiring sidewalks to remain open along construction sites.

WOODMONT WATCH: T-MINUS 24 HOURS (PHOTOS)

We are now 24 hours from the promised reopening date of Woodmont Avenue east of Bethesda Avenue (although the electronic signs around town have been saying "on or about August 15" in recent days). It's pretty clear that when it reopens, it will not be a fully finished road with sidewalks. Whether it will have bike lanes, or a pedestrian passage of some kind are still unknown.

One other interesting addition to The Flats at the Lot 31 construction site is the start of the rooftop structure.

Here's how Woodmont Avenue looks now:

WOODMONT WATCH: T-MINUS 5 DAYS - WOODMONT AVE. CLOSED SECTION IS PAVED IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

The reconstruction of Woodmont Avenue south of Bethesda Avenue took a major step forward Saturday, as the closed roadway bed received at least one level of pavement. I'm wondering if the reason the reopening is scheduled for August 15 (although newer electronic sign messages are slightly less confident, giving a qualifying "on or about"), is that there will be no sidewalks? It's the sidewalks and streetscaping that are among the features that would add significant time to the project. I have not heard what the plans are in that regard. Will the street be accessible to pedestrians when it opens, or just cars? Will there be bike lanes?

WOODMONT WATCH: T-MINUS 7 DAYS TO REOPENING IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

The promised reopening date of Woodmont Avenue south of Bethesda Avenue is a week away. You can see that there has been a lot of activity since my last update. Virtually all of the junk that was in the right-of-way has been cleared out. But it still seems unlikely the August 15 date promised on the electronic signs will be met, given the tremendous number of features and standards a street in 2014 Bethesda is required to provide and meet.

WOODMONT WATCH: T-MINUS 10 DAYS TO REOPENING (PHOTOS)

The Woodmont Watch is on! Woodmont Avenue's long-awaited reopening east of Bethesda Avenue has been promised for Friday, August 15. Here is the current state of the road's right-of-way from various angles: