The Purple Line Works the Night Shift in Downtown Silver Spring This November

The daytime Purple Line work zone in downtown Silver Spring looks much as it has for months, with Bonifant Street fenced and the library station still under construction. The new work this month happens after dark. Crews are hanging overhead power wires across Wayne Avenue in overnight shifts, and light rail vehicles make test runs past Ramsey Avenue between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. Every new Purple Line closure this month is scheduled overnight. The one new daytime closure is for the Thanksgiving Parade.

The project's own numbers explain the change. The Maryland Transit Administration said in October that construction is 92% complete and vehicle testing is underway along the route, and Bethesda Magazine reported that the last piece of rail went in at the 16th Street-Woodside station in May. A line with all its rail in place needs power above the tracks and trains to test on them. Both jobs are easiest to schedule after the evening traffic is gone.

Why Wayne Avenue Closes at 10 p.m.

The Purple Line updates page says the Wayne Avenue closures are "required to safely install overhead catenary wires," the wires that will feed power to the trains. Crews can't string cable over a moving lane, so each section closes completely, but only from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Resident and pedestrian access stays open throughout.

Here is the overnight schedule as the project lists it, with every date given as "on or about":

The two Wayne Avenue segments never close on the same night. The project notes that the Fenton-to-Cedar closure "will not be in place" while the Cedar-to-Dale closure is. For this week, that means at most one stretch of Wayne is closed on any given night through Friday. Starting Sunday, November 8, the work moves to the intersection with Fenton Street and stays there for close to four weeks.

The Spring Street Bridge is different. That work runs at night because it sits right next to the CSX and Metro tracks, so it starts earlier, at 7 p.m.

The intersection dates moved in October. On October 7, Source of the Spring reported the Wayne and Fenton intersection closure for roughly November 22 to December 1. The project's current notice says November 8 to December 4. If you have a late drive or a pickup near that corner, check the updates page that week. Source of the Spring also reports that weather can move the dates and that Ride On routes 12 and 15 detour around the closed sections and skip nearby stops while the work is underway.

Test Trains Already Cross Ramsey Avenue at Night

Once the wires are up, trains can run. In the stretch between the Lyttonsville station and Dixon Avenue, they already do. The project says light rail vehicle testing there "may occur nightly from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m." Temporary traffic holds stop cars so test trains can cross Stewart Avenue in Lyttonsville and Ramsey Avenue in Silver Spring. Emergency vehicles always get through, and pedestrian crossings are managed, though you may wait briefly while a train passes.

The testing zone is growing. Starting on or about November 7, the project plans nightly live-wire testing from the Riggs Road station along University Boulevard, onto Piney Branch Road, and ending at the Long Branch station, with traffic holds on University Boulevard during the same 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. window. The Wayne Avenue wiring this month connects the downtown segment to those two tested stretches.

What Still Holds in Daylight

The daytime configuration hasn't gone away. It just isn't changing much. These are the conditions that last through the month:

• Bonifant Street East, between Fenton Street and Georgia Avenue, is now permanently one-way eastbound. Parking is banned on the south side, where the tracks run, and vehicles parked there will be towed.
• Bonifant Street West, between Ramsey Avenue and Georgia Avenue, stays closed to traffic until construction is finished, with pedestrian access kept open.
• Dixon Avenue at Bonifant Street stays closed through November 2026 so crews can finish track on Bonifant. Access to the garage and businesses on Bonifant stays open.
• Wayne Avenue between Sligo Creek Parkway and Fenton Street is down to one lane in each direction, with no street parking inside the work zones.
• The Silver Spring Library station at the Brigadier General Charles E. McGee Library is still behind fencing. ADA-compliant walking routes run along Wayne Avenue and Fenton Street, and the paths can shift without notice.

At the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center, crews are working on the Purple Line station and on the mezzanine that will connect it to Metro and MARC. The center stays open, but walkways move from time to time. On Plymouth Street, work continues on the Plymouth Tunnel and the Manchester Place station, and the project says residential parking there isn't affected.

The Bonifant Street Businesses Still Serving

These blocks have lived with the work zone longer than anywhere else downtown, and their businesses are a big part of why it is worth getting through. In June, Bethesda Magazine covered Kefa Café's 30th anniversary at 963 Bonifant Street. Co-owner Abeba Tsegaye said she hoped the café would remain open and in the community. Down the block at 930 Bonifant, The Banner reported in February that Mandalay Restaurant & Café was serving lunch Tuesday through Sunday and dinner Tuesday through Thursday. Café via Roma is at 911 Bonifant Street.

A few blocks east, Source of the Spring reported that Momiji Sushi & Izakaya started a soft opening in late October at 1201 Fidler Lane, the former Cubano's space, with sushi, ramen and donburi on the menu.

Parking is easier than the fencing makes it look. Montgomery County lists the Fenton Street Village Garage at 8110 Fenton Street with 313 spaces and the Bonifant-Dixon Garage at 1101 Bonifant Drive with 1,677 spaces, both at $1 an hour. The Wayne Avenue Garage at 921 Wayne Avenue has 1,684 spaces at $1.25 an hour. The county's facility list also includes Lot 38 at 920 Bonifant Street, right in the middle of the block. It lists payment hours as Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., which means paid parking ends at the same hour the Wayne Avenue wire closures begin.

November 21: Parade Barricades on the Same Corners

The month's one new daytime closure comes from the Montgomery County Thanksgiving Parade, on Saturday, November 21 at 10 a.m. It steps off from Ellsworth Drive and Fenton Street, heads south on Georgia Avenue, and ends at Silver Spring Avenue. Several of the parade's street closures are the same blocks the Purple Line has been working on:

1. Fenton Street from Cameron Street to Wayne Avenue
2. Wayne Avenue from Georgia Avenue to Fenton Street
3. Bonifant Street from Georgia Avenue to Fenton Street
4. Thayer Avenue and Silver Spring Avenue, both from Georgia Avenue to Fenton Street
5. Georgia Avenue in both directions between East-West Highway and Colesville Road

Those closures run from 6 a.m. to about 1 p.m. If the wire schedule holds, the Wayne and Fenton intersection will be in its overnight closure the night before, which ends at 4 a.m. That leaves about two hours before parade barricades go up on the same corner.

The garage plan changes for the day. The Town Center garage on Ellsworth Drive closes at 2 a.m., and the Wayne Avenue garage closes at 8 a.m. Both reopen by 2 p.m. Free parking is available in the Sligo Avenue, Cameron Street and Bonifant Street garages, and organizers suggest taking the Red Line to Silver Spring.

Two weeks later, Veterans Plaza hosts the Silver Spring Christmas Market and Holiday Craft Fair on Sunday, December 6, from noon to 4 p.m., with local artisans, crafters and small businesses. That is two days after the intersection closure is scheduled to end.

The Bridge and the Opening Date Are Still Open Questions

The Spring Street Bridge has no reopening date yet. On October 14, Bethesda Magazine reported that the bridge reconstruction is "substantially complete" and that the handover to the Montgomery County Department of Transportation is underway. Inspections and safety reviews are still in progress, and no reopening date has been set. When the bridge reopens, it will connect 16th and Spring streets and lead to the future 16th Street-Woodside station. The project's notice says only that final completion items are being worked out with the county.

The line itself has no fixed opening date either. Before the County Council's Transportation and Environment Committee, MTA's Ray Biggs said the contractual date remains December 30, 2027. When Committee Chair Evan Glass asked about an April 2028 date that has also been mentioned, Biggs said, as reported by WTOP and republished by Bethesda Magazine:

"that can go either way, but as we get closer and closer, that date will become more sure and will become more aligned among all the partners."

For this month, the schedule is set: wire crews on Wayne Avenue through December 4, test trains at Ramsey Avenue after 9 p.m., and parade barricades on Fenton Street the morning of November 21.

If you own a home or rental near the Wayne Avenue and Bonifant Street corridor and want to talk through how the construction schedule and the line's eventual opening affect your plans to sell, lease or hold, Payam Bakhaje can go through the timeline with you block by block. Let's Connect.