Friday, April 05, 2013

BLASTING TODAY AT 4500 EAST-WEST HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION SITE IN DOWNTOWN BETHESDA

BAROOOOOM!

Contractors will be blasting today at the 4500 East-West Highway construction site, former home of the Bethesda McDonald's.

Detonations will occur between 10:30 AM and 2:30 PM.

If you are within 300 feet of the site, you can expect to hear an underground roar, and feel vibrations. (In my experience, it can be heard further than that!).  There will be an audible alert prior to blasting, a second alert just before detonation, and an all-clear signal after detonation. You know the drill.

Blasting is expected to resume again on Monday, same Blast time, same Blast channel. This will likely go on all next week.

What's going on, is that excavators struck an area of solid rock at the southern end of the site when digging. This is not unusual, given the geological makeup of the ground under Bethesda, or Montgomery County, in general. Blasting is now necessary to complete excavation.

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