Montgomery County is moving forward with plans to transform the North Bethesda Metro station into a larger multimodal transportation hub that could help support a 1.9 million SF mixed-use life sciences district above the station.
The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) has posted a Notice of Opportunity for North Bethesda Project Connect, providing construction, design and engineering consultants with information about the upcoming project.
Known formally as “Project Connect: Accelerating Life Science at the North Bethesda Transit Oriented Development,” the project centers around construction of a second Metro entrance at the northern end of the North Bethesda station. The station currently has only one entrance, located at the southern end of the platform.
According to MCDOT, the new entrance would reduce walking distances for people traveling to and from nearby destinations, including Pike & Rose, medical and dental offices, grocery stores and other businesses. It is also expected to increase the station’s capacity and improve evacuation times.
Plans go well beyond the new entrance. The project calls for two public plazas, improvements for pedestrians and bicyclists, curbside pickup and drop-off areas, wider sidewalks, buffered bike lanes, additional landscaping and infrastructure that would prepare Rockville Pike for future FLASH Bus Rapid Transit service.
The new Metro entrance would also be constructed with slabs and columns capable of supporting a potential 1.9-million-square-foot mixed-use building above the station.
That future development is envisioned as a life sciences district anchored by the University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing, with a focus on advanced computing and artificial intelligence. According to the county, the larger project could bring economic development, housing and workforce opportunities to the area.
MCDOT says the project could ultimately help catalyze redevelopment of more than 18 acres of vacant land surrounding the North Bethesda Metro station. Approximately 6 million square feet of existing residential and commercial development is already located within a half-mile of the proposed new Metro entrance.
The county also envisions improvements to the Rockville Pike and Old Georgetown Road intersection, where the width and current design of Rockville Pike create challenges for pedestrians accessing the station.
MCDOT describes the project as an effort to make North Bethesda a more pedestrian- and transit-oriented urban center, similar to the growth that has occurred around Metro stations in Bethesda and Silver Spring.
The Notice of Opportunity represents an early step in advancing the project and informing construction, design and engineering firms about the planned work.
