Walk south on 47th Street toward Elm Street this month and you will pass a new 10-foot shared-use path along the east curb. Montgomery County photos from August show finished sections at Willow Avenue and at 47th and Elm. Cross Elm and the scene changes. The north end of Elm Street Park has been cleared of trees and ringed with silt fence. The playground is coming out.
Both of those blocks belong to one project, and they are where the Capital Crescent Trail will come back into downtown Bethesda. The trail toward Silver Spring has been closed since 2017. Its return no longer hangs only on the Purple Line. A park rebuild one block from Bethesda Row now plays a part too.
The route back east goes through the park
For years the plan for carrying the trail past Wisconsin Avenue offered two options. One was a tunnel under Wisconsin. The other was a surface route through Elm Street Park. In October 2021 the Montgomery County Planning Board approved concept plans for each. Montgomery Parks says funding for the tunnel was pushed past the current funding cycle, so the county transportation department went ahead with the surface route.
The county's own budget shows how far off the tunnel is. The FY27 capital budget sheet for the Capital Crescent Trail Tunnel lists the project in final design at $82.545 million. Every dollar sits in the "Beyond 6 Years" column, with nothing scheduled for FY26 through FY32.
For anyone who walks or rides here, the surface route is the route for the foreseeable future. Montgomery Parks lays it out like this:
- The trail starts at Willow Lane.
- It runs up the east side of 47th Street.
- At Elm Street it heads north through Elm Street Park.
- It joins the new Purple Line section of the trail near the Air Rights Building.
The 47th Street stretch is Phase 2 of the county's Capital Crescent Surface Trail program. In mid-September, Montgomery Parks put it at about 90 percent complete, with completion expected in October 2026. The link through the park is Phase 3. That's the fenced site you see now.
Why a playground rebuild now affects the trail's reopening
The Phase 3 project page schedules work from summer 2026 through summer 2027. Crews can work Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., with pedestrian detours and flaggers in use throughout. The county's September 28 update reported the site cleared of trees and silt fence going in.
Meanwhile, the target for reopening the closed trail east of Bethesda keeps moving. A September 30, 2026 Montgomery County Council staff memo tracks the Purple Line team's forecasts this year:
| Purple Line report | Forecast trail opening |
|---|---|
| January 2026 | Summer 2026 |
| July 2026 | Fall 2026 |
| September 2026 | Spring 2027 |
The memo blames the latest slip on the timing of property access arrangements and on corrective work found during inspection. It also ties the opening to the county's work at Elm Street.
"It is also worth noting that the opening of the trail also relies on the completion of MCDOT's ongoing Capital Crescent Surface Trail Phase 3 project to connect the existing on-street cycletrack on Willow Lane to the former Georgetown Branch Trail right-of-way across Elm Street."
So two schedules now control when you can ride from Bethesda toward Rock Creek again, and they end in different seasons. Spring 2027 is the Maryland Transit Administration's target for finishing its own trail construction. The county's park and trail connection at Elm Street is scheduled to run into summer 2027, after that target. According to the memo, the Purple Line team "has left open the possibility that the trail may not be completed prior to the opening of the Purple Line."
There is a possible shortcut. The memo says MTA is weighing a phased opening between Elm Street and Connecticut Avenue, since heavier construction continues east of Connecticut. MTA's September report to the General Assembly, which covers information through July 31, says the trail stays closed to pedestrians and cyclists for now. It also says sections may open first for limited access, and the full trail will reopen once the final inspection with the county is done and all safety standards are met.
MTA's milestone for the start of Purple Line service is still the end of 2027. The concessionaire's latest schedule in the same report projects April 27, 2028. Light rail vehicles are already testing between the Lyttonsville maintenance facility and Bethesda Station. The Purple Line updates page notes that this testing usually runs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. but can happen at any hour.
What the north end of Elm Street Park becomes
Once the fence comes down, the park will look different from the one that closed. Montgomery Parks designed the renovation and the county transportation department is paying for both the trail and the park work. The published design includes:
- An eastern playground for ages 2 to 12 with an enclosed swing with harness, a cone-shaped spinner with a low floor, in-ground bouncers, a dome for quiet time, and a treehouse with a 4-foot slide.
- A middle play area for ages 5 to 12 with climbing towers of 8 and 15 feet, two slides, a rope tunnel, hammocks and balance lines.
- A fitness zone for ages 13 and up with a dip station, calisthenics rack, stepper platforms, push-up bars and a balance ring called the "Ocean Ring."
- A rebuilt Elm Street promenade with new paving, lighting, furnishings, a drinking fountain and infrastructure for community events.
Both playgrounds will sit on a flat, cork-based poured surface. Protective fencing will separate the play areas from the trail, and the trail crossings are designed to be wide with clear sight lines. Montgomery Parks says those choices answer what neighbors asked for in the fall 2024 survey: inclusive play, a safer trail intersection, and protection for the trees and open lawn at the park's southern end. The work covers the northern portion of the two-acre park at 4600 Elm Street. Its southern part has the gazebos, walking paths and lawn.
The equipment was also picked to avoid duplicating what is planned for Bethesda Market Park, whose plans include a stage, an amphitheater, a water feature and dog parks. That project is still in preliminary planning, with no construction dates set.
Using the trail that is open this winter
South of Bethesda Avenue, the Capital Crescent Trail toward Georgetown is unaffected by any of this. The National Park Service lists the 3.7-mile segment from the Maryland/DC line to Water Street as open. Design for its rehabilitation is underway, and phased construction is expected to start in 2027. When that work begins, sections will close in phases. Detours will use the C&O Canal Towpath and nearby low-traffic streets, and the Arizona Avenue Bridge may close temporarily. So this winter and spring may be the last full stretch of uninterrupted riding to Georgetown for a while.
North of the trailhead, the Purple Line work changes how you walk. Pedestrian access between Wisconsin Avenue and Elm Street is still closed. The posted detour crosses Wisconsin at Elm Street and Waverly Street, runs west on Hampden Lane to Woodmont Avenue, and then returns to Elm Street. At the Elm Street station site, crews are building the cavern and shaft from the bottom up, with concrete pours at night and shifts that can run around the clock.
These are the trailhead basics on publish day:
| Need | Where | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Parking | Capital Crescent Garage, 7171 Woodmont Ave. | Entrances on Woodmont and Bethesda avenues. $1.50 an hour, paid Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
| Bikeshare | Bethesda Ave. and Arlington Rd.; Elm and 47th streets in Elm Street Park | Capital Bikeshare stations listed by Bethesda Urban Partnership. Check the app for open docks. |
| Breakfast | Bethesda Bagels, 4819 Bethesda Ave. | Listed hours are 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| Water | Trailhead rest stop, a few hundred feet south of Bethesda Ave. | Fountain listed by the trail coalition. There are no public restrooms on the trail itself. |
Sources for the table are the county's Bethesda parking facilities page, Bethesda Urban Partnership's bikeshare list, Bethesda Bagels and the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail. The Elm and 47th bikeshare station sits inside the park that is under construction, so look at it before planning a ride around it. The coalition is also pushing for the southern trail to be repaved and widened.
At Team Koki, we track projects like the Elm Street Park rebuild and the Purple Line trail schedule because they change how a block works day to day, and that matters when you are deciding when to list, when to buy, or just which route to take to Bethesda Row. If you want a straight read on how the trail and park work affects your street, Team Koki is glad to talk it through. Work With Us.
