Purple Line crews began paving Wayne Avenue between Fenton Street and Manchester Place Station on Sunday, Aug. 9, kicking off roughly a month of day-and-night road work on a corridor that has already been squeezed to one lane in each direction for months.

The project, which the Purple Line announced on X, will keep one lane open in each direction but drivers should expect intermittent stoppages controlled by flaggers. No parking is allowed on Wayne Avenue.

Crews will first mill the existing road surface to create a smooth foundation, then lay new asphalt. The Purple Line project called the paving "a critical step in restoring Wayne Avenue," according to its updates page.

What drivers should know

Wayne Avenue between Sligo Creek Parkway and Fenton Street had already been reduced to one lane each way for an extended stretch due to utility relocations, stormwater system installation and curb, sidewalk and roadway reconstruction. The new paving phase extends that disruption east to the Manchester Place Station entrance.

No official detour has been published. Sligo Creek Parkway and Georgia Avenue run parallel to the affected segment, but drivers should follow posted signage for specific routing.

Work will run both day and night shifts to finish as quickly as possible, with completion expected around early September.

Where this fits in the bigger picture

The Purple Line is approximately 90% complete, according to USA TODAY, citing the Maryland Transit Administration. Live rail testing is already spanning 2.5 miles through Lyttonsville, Chevy Chase and Bethesda. MTA said the 16-mile, 21-station light rail line connecting New Carrollton to Bethesda will reach "substantial completion on construction elements" by the end of 2026, with full-scale systems testing beginning in 2027.

The contractual opening date remains Dec. 30, 2027, though the project's concessionaire, Purple Line Transit Partners, projected a 78-day delay in a February 2026 schedule update. That would push the opening to March 17, 2028. State Delegate Marc Korman reported the delay in his June 2026 newsletter, noting MTA was reviewing the schedule to try to recover time.

Officials project daily ridership of about 60,000 passengers once service begins.

What's next

Construction at the Plymouth Tunnel and Manchester Place Station continues alongside the paving, including work on the concrete west portal at Wayne Avenue, utility connections and track installation inside the tunnel.

A separate overnight closure of Georgia Avenue for catenary wire installation is expected to begin on or about Aug. 24. Residents can sign up for Purple Line construction alerts at purplelinemd.com/sign-up.