Bethesda commuters who have spent two months riding shuttle buses will get their trains back Monday, Sept. 7.

Metro confirmed that the Bethesda, Medical Center and Grosvenor-Strathmore Red Line stations are on track to reopen that day, with construction projected to finish on time, The Banner reported. The three stations have been closed since July 6, when Metro shut down service between North Bethesda and Friendship Heights for major construction.

The largest project was at Bethesda station. Crews built a second mezzanine and new escalators that will eventually connect Metrorail riders directly to the Purple Line light rail. The Maryland Transit Administration has called the Bethesda mezzanine the last major piece of Purple Line construction. At Grosvenor-Strathmore, workers reconstructed the platform, replacing slab edges and tiles, adding new lighting and modifying drainage. A third project maintained the elevated rail structure carrying Red Line trains over Rockville Pike between Grosvenor-Strathmore and Medical Center.

WMATA spokesperson Jordan Pascale said Metro thanks riders for their patience during construction of the new Purple Line connection, which will provide new regional connectivity when it opens. Riders will also see improved lighting and new tiles at Grosvenor-Strathmore, Pascale said.

What the shutdown cost

Metro is paying about $16 million for private charter buses to shuttle passengers between stations during the closure, according to Pascale. The trip between North Bethesda and Friendship Heights takes about 10 minutes by train; Metro estimated shuttle travel times would range between 26 and 48 minutes depending on the route.

The agency set up dedicated bus-only lanes stretching roughly 7.5 miles along Rockville Pike and Wisconsin Avenue, enforced Monday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Drivers caught parking or driving in those lanes face $60 tickets. Metro Transit Police issued more than 570 warnings and 37 parking tickets in the first enforcement week alone.

Mike Larkin, vice president of the Action Committee for Transit, told The Banner the closure has been hard on riders with mobility issues but credited Metro's overall execution. "The larger lesson here is when we want to do some transit priority infrastructure, we can do it pretty quickly," Larkin said.

What happens next

Montgomery County Council member Kate Stewart, who represents the area affected by a similar 2024 Red Line closure on the county's eastern side, told The Banner the county made changes after hearing from residents and businesses during that shutdown. "We found that signage and clear road demarcations were really important, so people understood where to go," Stewart said.

County officials are evaluating whether to make the northern segment of the bus lanes permanent, stretching from the Capital Beltway to Marinelli Road along Rockville Pike, according to state Del. Marc Korman's June newsletter. The bus lanes inside the Beltway along Wisconsin Avenue will be removed when service resumes.

As we reported Aug. 10, the Purple Line itself is projected to open in late 2027, though the contractor's February schedule showed a potential 78-day delay pushing revenue service to March 2028.

Free parking remains available at North Bethesda and Grosvenor-Strathmore stations for the duration of the closure, which ends Sept. 6.