Free Parking About to End at Capital Crescent Garage

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Bethesda drivers have just three more days of free parking in the 960-space Capital Crescent Garage at the intersection of Woodmont and Bethesda avenues.

The Montgomery County Department of Transportation Division of Parking will begin charging for parking in garage starting at 7 a.m. on Monday, March 2.

County officials say parking has been free since the garage opened Jan. 20 to give drivers time to become acquainted with the new garage.

The hourly rate to park at the garage will be 80 cents an hour from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Friday.

This week crews will test the entrance and exit gates. If the gate arms are blocking the entrance to the garage, customers should take a ticket to open the gate and use the ticket to exit. However, there will be no charge until Monday.

To pay for parking next week, garage patrons will insert their ticket into centrally located pay machines before returning to their vehicles. The pay machines are located in all three of the garage’s pedestrian lobbies and accept credit cards and cash. Customers can also pay at garage exits with a credit card. Detailed information on using this “pay-on-foot” payment system is available online.

The Capital Crescent Garage wirelessly tracks the number of available parking spaces on each garage level and displays the information outside every entrance and on each floor.

PHOTO: Capital Crescent Garage at the intersection of Woodmont and Bethesda avenues, courtesy of Montgomery Community Media