Blasting at Lot 31 Construction Site Rattles Neighbors

Loud “earthquake-like” thumps yesterday and today at Bethesda’s most scrutinized construction site rattled some neighbors, but were nothing more than routine blasting in the excavation process.

Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center Director Ken Hartman said developer StonebridgeCarras is blasting rock at its Lot 31 project that was not rippable by excavation equipment. They set it up by sounding sirens right before the blast, which they started yesterday morning.

One resident told BethesdaNow.com the blast on Wednesday at about 10:30 a.m. shook her apartment complex at Bradley Boulevard and Wisconsin Avenue, about half a mile from the construction site at Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues.

A representative from StonebridgeCarras could not be reached today. Hartman said the blasting is not expected to go on much longer.

Construction crews are digging on the site of the old Lot 31 and the closed section of Woodmont Avenue to build a parking garage underneath. They will then repave Woodmont Avenue on top of the garage, which will serve two new apartment complexes near Bethesda Row and one of Bethesda’s busiest areas.

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