"The Purple Line team is now reporting a target opening for Spring 2027 and has left open the possibility that the trail may not be completed prior to the opening of the Purple Line." That sentence comes from a memo to the Montgomery County Council's Transportation and Environment Committee dated September 30, 2026. Few people have read it so far.
The other public sources still say fall 2026. The Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail's homepage says the trail between Bethesda and Silver Spring "reopens tentatively in Fall 2026." The Purple Line project's closure listing still gives the Georgetown Branch Interim Trail a closure window of September 2017 to December 2026. So anyone in Chevy Chase who has been waiting for this fall is reading an older schedule than the one the state just gave the county.
The new date matters less than the new reasons. The trail's delays used to follow the rail project's delays. This time the holdup is closeout work, and the first stretch that could reopen ends at Connecticut Avenue, right at Chevy Chase Lake.
A schedule that moved three times in one year
The memo includes a short table of the trail opening dates MTA has reported to the county this year.
| When MTA reported it | Forecasted trail opening |
|---|---|
| January 2026 | Summer 2026 |
| July 2026 | Fall 2026 |
| September 2026 | Spring 2027 |
Compare that with the original promise. When the trail east of Bethesda closed on September 5, 2017, the project team said the closure would last four to five years. As of this month, it has lasted more than nine. Spring 2027 would push it close to nine and a half.
The trail was also never supposed to open on its own. It was meant to open alongside Purple Line passenger service until May 2024, when the state changed course and said the trail would open well before the trains. That head start is now shrinking from both ends. MTA's forecast for passenger service is still December 30, 2027. The concessionaire building the line forecasts April 27, 2028, a 119-day gap that has grown in every report this year.
The holdup has moved to the finish line
For most of the past nine years, trail delays came from the same sources as Purple Line delays. The Coalition points to three lawsuits, a change of lead construction contractor after contract disputes in 2020, and more utility relocations than anyone projected. The September memo gives different reasons. MTA blames the timing of "certain property access arrangements needed to complete work along the trail" and "additional corrective work identified through the inspection and acceptance process."
Inspection and acceptance happen near the end of a project. The progress figures point the same way. MTA's September status report put Capital Crescent Trail construction at 74.3% complete as of July 31, 2026. Between Bethesda and Connecticut Avenue, the report listed fence installation and paving preparation, with fencing, furnishings, lighting and final landscaping still to finish. East of Connecticut Avenue, paving continued toward Jones Mill Road while base grading moved from Jones Mill toward Talbot Avenue.
The memo raises one more dependency. The trail's opening also relies on MCDOT finishing its Capital Crescent Surface Trail Phase 3 project, which connects the on-street cycletrack on Willow Lane to the old Georgetown Branch right-of-way across Elm Street. MCDOT's own page for Phase 3 shows site clearing and silt-fence installation on September 28, 2026, and puts completion in summer 2027. That is a season later than the spring target for the trail it is supposed to connect to.
The western half is closer than the eastern half
The memo's most useful line for Chevy Chase is a small one. "The MTA is evaluating a phased approach by which the Capital Crescent Trail may be opened between Elm Street and Connecticut Avenue, past which point more intensive construction remains ongoing." It comes with no date and no commitment. It does show where MTA sees the trail as nearly done.
East of Connecticut Avenue, the work is still heavy. Current Purple Line updates describe utility and retaining-wall work at the Jones Mill Road underpass and trail construction between Elm Street Park and Rock Creek, with work listed through fall 2026. Further east, a Purple Line NOW bulletin on September 23 described the stretch from the Talbot bridge toward the Silver Spring Metro as "still very much a construction zone."
The finished trail will look very different from the gravel-and-dirt path that closed in 2017. The plan calls for:
- A 12-foot paved trail with two-foot buffers, running into downtown Silver Spring
- A bridge over Connecticut Avenue and another over Colesville Road
- Underpasses at Jones Mill Road, 16th Street and Spring Street
- New formal neighborhood access points along the route
The Purple Line's trail map labels access at Lynn Drive, Pearl Street, Newdale Road and Connecticut Avenue along the Chevy Chase segment. The Coalition's plan review counts only two at-grade road crossings, both on low-traffic streets: Stewart Avenue and the north end of the Talbot Avenue bridge.
Where a partial opening would end
If the Elm Street to Connecticut Avenue stretch opens first, its eastern end sits at Chevy Chase Lake. The development's retail site already sends drivers to garage access off Manor Road or Chevy Chase Lake Terrace, "near future Purple Line bridge," and its map labels the Connecticut Avenue station.
Since the trail closed, the blocks at that end have filled in. Dok Khao Thai Eatery soft-opened at 8551 Connecticut Avenue on July 31, 2025. Sarah's Handmade Ice Cream opened at the same address with a grand-opening weekend on April 4 and 5, 2026. The property directory also lists Elena James, Uncorked, Playa Bowls, StretchLab, RTR Pilates and CVS as open at addresses including 3820 Chaplin Place and 8525 Chevy Chase Lake Terrace. Osteria Divina is still marked "Coming Soon" on that undated directory, so check before you plan a meal around it.
The plaza already gets foot traffic without a trail. The Lake Buddies Fall Festival runs Saturday, October 10, from 10 a.m. to noon at 8525 Chevy Chase Lake Terrace.
What you can ride between now and spring
If the Spring 2027 target holds, you have one more winter of workarounds. Here is what is open, roughly from west to east.
- The NPS section from Georgetown to the Maryland line is open. The National Park Service's 3.7-mile stretch between the D.C. line and Water Street is in service. NPS plans a phased rehabilitation starting in 2027, with closures and detours inside its work zones.
- The Georgetown trailhead has a temporary bike route. DC Water opened a cyclist path through Georgetown Waterfront Park between 33rd and Potomac streets in January 2026. Pedestrians are routed along the riverfront or to the north side of Water Street. DC Water expects the Potomac River Tunnel work behind this setup to run through 2030.
- The signed detour from Bethesda to Silver Spring is still in place. The official route uses Woodmont Avenue, Montgomery, Pearl and Maryland avenues, Jones Bridge Road, Connecticut Avenue, Jones Mill Road and Rock Creek Park, among other streets and paths. The Coalition calls it "long, and unpleasant in places."
- The 47th Street path is close. MCDOT's Capital Crescent Surface Trail Phase 2 is a 10-foot shared-use path on 47th Street from Willow Avenue to the Elm Street Park promenade. Montgomery Parks said in mid-September that it was about 90% complete and expected to finish in October 2026. No public opening has been announced.
The long-planned tunnel under Wisconsin Avenue is a separate county project, and it will not help this winter. The tunnel would run through the lower parking level of the new 7272 Wisconsin Avenue building and come out at the trail in Elm Street Park. The county's FY27 capital budget lists it in final design, with bidding, utility relocation and construction scheduled more than six years out.
State lawmakers asked MTA for six bimonthly Purple Line construction status reports, and the September report was included in the county committee's packet. If a later report gives a date for the Elm Street to Connecticut Avenue section, it will be the first firm reopening date Chevy Chase has seen since 2017.
Does your street sit near Lynn Drive, Newdale Road or the Connecticut Avenue access point? Then the trail reopening is part of your home's story too. Francisco Hoyos follows these Chevy Chase changes block by block. Request a free home valuation, and we'll show you what the new trail access could mean for your property.
