Beach Drive between Tilden and Broad Branch reopens Jan. 8

The second segment of the Beach Drive rehabilitation will reopen about 4 and a-half months after work began. And right on schedule, too.

The National Park Service says that weather allowing, the segment of Beach Drive between Park Road/Tilden Street NW and Broad Branch Road/Blagden Avenue NW will reopen on Monday, January 8th. It had estimated that the reconstruction of this segment would take four to six months.

The updated closures and detours map indicates Broad Branch Road between Beach Drive and Brandywine will reopen as well.

Detail of an NPS map of road closures and detours. The top of the map is west, right is north. View the large version here.

A Park Service spokeswoman tells WTOP that work on this segment included completely rebuilding the roadway and significant work on the Blagden Bridge.

Scaffolding on the Blagden bridge in September 2017. (photo by Marlene Berlin)

Segment 3 of the Beach Drive reconstruction, which closed on August 28th, will remain closed to vehicles, bikes and pedestrians from north of the Blagden Avenue bridge to Joyce Road until next fall.

Ross Drive and Ridge Road will also remain closed to motor vehicle traffic until fall 2018. The Park Service says this is for the benefit of bike commuters and recreational users who otherwise would use Beach Drive.

And because many park users have illegally entered the closed areas during construction, the U.S. Park Police is increasing patrols.

For further details and updates, visit the NPS Broad Branch rehabilitation website. You may need to scroll past park alerts at the top of the page.