The rebuilt Capital Crescent Trail between Bethesda and Silver Spring is still closed this October. Its reopening date has moved four times since 2024. The more lasting change is less visible. The tunnel that was supposed to carry the trail under Wisconsin Avenue has no money behind it. That leaves the trail's Bethesda entrance at street level, on Bethesda Avenue, Willow Lane and 47th Street, and that county-built route is the piece of the system closest to finished.

Three projects run under the trail's name, each with its own owner and its own schedule. Reading them separately is the only way the dates make sense.

The Tunnel Was the Bethesda Piece, and It Is on Hold

On paper, the county's tunnel would begin at 7272 Wisconsin Avenue near Civic Green Park, pass under Wisconsin Avenue and Elm Street, and come out at the Capital Crescent Surface Trail in Elm Street Park. That alignment would have kept trail users off the downtown sidewalks altogether. The county's 2026 capital materials list it as a planning and design project. In January, Bethesda Magazine reported that the tunnel's estimate had passed $82.5 million and that it was absent from the County Executive's proposed FY27–32 budget.

With no funded tunnel, the link between the rebuilt trail at Elm Street Park and the open western trail at the Bethesda Avenue and Woodmont Avenue trailhead has to run on the street grid. The county has already designed that link and is close to finishing it.

What the Street-Level Route Looks Like

MCDOT describes the surface trail as a two-way separated bikeway on the north side of Bethesda Avenue from Woodmont Avenue to Wisconsin Avenue. It continues on the south side of Willow Lane to 47th Street, then becomes a shared-use path along the 47th Street frontage of Elm Street Park. The county lists Ourisman Honda as a landmark on the Bethesda Avenue and Willow Lane stretch, which is Phase 1.

Phase 2 is the short piece that ties it together: a 10-foot shared-use path on 47th Street running from Willow Lane to the Elm Street Park Promenade at Elm Street. The original schedule on the project page called for work to start in mid-October 2025 and finish over the winter. MCDOT's Aug. 10, 2026 release still listed the 0.25-mile segment as under construction, with completion estimated for summer 2026. Project photos dated Aug. 6 show finished path sections at 47th and Elm and at 47th and Willow. No later notice confirms the whole segment is done, so pedestrian detours and flaggers may still turn up. The county's permitted work hours there are Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

More street work is lined up nearby. The Woodmont Avenue Cycle Track Phase 2 covers two stretches, Wisconsin Avenue to Miller Avenue and Montgomery Lane to Norfolk Avenue. The August release said it was slated to start construction in fall 2026. The county's project page still lists design completion for this fall, and no source confirms that crews have broken ground. A Montgomery Avenue Phase 2 segment is in right-of-way acquisition and permitting.

Why the Reopening Date Keeps Sliding

The rebuilt trail east of Elm Street Park sits beside the Purple Line, and crews have been using it as their construction access road. Each new projection was stated with confidence:

• May 2024: Bethesda Magazine reported a projected spring 2026 reopening, a year ahead of the schedule at the time.
• September 2025: The estimate became spring or summer 2026.
• January 2026: MTA's updated projection for trail construction was summer 2026.
• May 2026: MTA projected construction would be complete in fall 2026 and the full trail would reopen in 2027.

The May report to the General Assembly gives the reason directly:

"Capital Crescent Trail (CCT) construction is projected to complete in Fall 2026 due to continued use for Purple Line construction access. … Sections of the trail may open this year to provide limited access, with the full trail expected to reopen in 2027."

The same report said crews were building walls between Talbot Avenue and Spring Street and laying base-course asphalt west to east from East West Highway toward Connecticut Avenue. The county's Aug. 11 Vision Zero update said it was still working with the Purple Line team to decide which parts could open before rail construction ends. No segment has been named. The Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail gives a tentative fall 2026 reopening. That is the coalition's own estimate, not an MTA announcement.

The trail is tied to the rail schedule, and the rail line is in its testing phase. MTA's Sept. 3 release put the Purple Line at 92% complete, with light rail vehicles testing on more than half of the 16-mile route. In May, MTA said construction should wrap up by the end of 2026 and passenger service should begin in late 2027. The project FAQ still says winter 2027. Bethesda Magazine reported in May that a state senator allowed that the opening could slip into early 2028. At the Bethesda end, the May report said lobby excavation at the station was complete and concrete work for the lobby slab and shaft walls was underway.

Getting Through Downtown and Out to Silver Spring Today

Until a segment opens, two detours cover the gap. The first is short. Around the Purple Line work zone on Wisconsin Avenue, the crosswalk between Elm Street and Waverly Street is closed. Pedestrians cross at a signalized crosswalk at Elm Street and follow the signed detour shown on the Purple Line factsheet. That detour's posted active period runs from Nov. 14, 2022 through December 2026.

The second is the long interim route to Silver Spring, posted for September 2017 through December 2026. The December end date is a posting window, not a promised reopening. Heading east, the Purple Line's interim trail map sends you along:

1. Woodmont Avenue to Montgomery Avenue
2. Pearl Street and Maryland Avenue to Jones Bridge Road
3. Connecticut Avenue to Jones Mill Road and Susanna Lane, then through Rock Creek Park
4. Freyman Drive, Terrace Drive and Grubb Road
5. Spencer Road and Rosemary Hills Park
6. Michigan, Maine and Kansas avenues
7. Stewart Avenue, Brookville Road, Warren Street, Third Avenue, Grace Church Road and Second Avenue toward Silver Spring

The return trip is different, because the map shows the Stewart Avenue trailhead as closed. Cyclists heading back toward Bethesda are routed by way of Cheltenham Drive, Tilbury Street, Wisconsin Avenue and Norfolk Avenue, then Woodmont Avenue to Bethesda Avenue. The map isn't dated, so posted signs on the ground take priority.

West of the Woodmont trailhead, the trail is unaffected. The coalition describes the hard-surface trail from Georgetown to Bethesda as complete. The closure applies only to the Bethesda-to-Silver Spring section. Max's Best Ice Cream at 7770 Woodmont Avenue sits close to that trailhead and was part of Governor Moore's Montgomery County stop in May, on the same day the last Purple Line rail went in.

Where the Next Answer Will Come From

The best chance to hear an updated trail date is the Purple Line's fall Community Advisory Team meetings. Seven virtual sessions on Microsoft Teams run Oct. 13 through 28, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., with captioning in several languages. MTA says the meetings will preview upcoming milestones and leave time for questions. A question about which segments between Elm Street Park and Connecticut Avenue could open first, and when, goes to the people who will make that call. On the county side, progress on the 47th Street path and the Woodmont Avenue cycle track appears on MCDOT's Bethesda bikeway project pages.

If you own near Elm Street Park, Willow Lane or the Bethesda Avenue corridor and want to understand how the trail and the Purple Line could change your block in the next few years, Kari Wilner can walk through it with you. Request a private consultation or home valuation.