Bethesda’s Norfolk Avenue ‘streetery’ appears here to stay, and may get better

A popular streetery created during the pandemic in Bethesda, Maryland, not only appears to be here to stay, it may get some improvements.

The Norfolk Avenue streetery, which has turned two blocks of the street into an open eatery and seating area with just a few small tables and folding chairs, may be raised up to sidewalk level, have the intersections nearby raised to slow down traffic and be enhanced to deal with standing water issues.
The Bethesda streetery and the street it occupies. (Courtesy Montgomery County Department of Transportation)

Montgomery County’s Department of Transportation has a public meeting on that plan Wednesday night.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Daniel Babcock told WTOP. “I walk through a lot with my dogs so I’m always out and about in the neighborhood.”

Alfred Delena, who works nearby, said that “people seem to like it, it seems to bring people out.”

You can take a look at the plans to improve the streetery on the county’s website.

In a new release, the county said the goal of the future improvements would be “to enhance the streetscape and the existing streetery while permitting the safe movement of pedestrians and bicyclists through the space, loading and unloading needs for local businesses, as well as considerations for vehicular traffic.”

Streeteries on Newell Street in Silver Spring and on Woodmont Avenue in Bethesda are shutting down.

Kyle Cooper

Weekend and fill-in anchor Kyle Cooper has been with WTOP since 1992. Over those 25 years, Kyle has worked as a street reporter, editor and anchor. Prior to WTOP, Kyle worked at several radio stations in Indiana and at the Indianapolis Star Newspaper.

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