Area motorists should be prepared for the possibility of intermittent closures of I-270 beginning Sunday, Feb. 3 and running through March, as crews begin to install steel beams for the interchange over I-270 at Watkins Mill Road in Gaithersburg.

The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA) is preparing to set structural support beams at the I-270/Watkins Mill Road interchange project. The steel beam installation work will begin Sunday, February 3 and be complete by the beginning of March.

To perform this phase of the $84 million project, motorists will encounter nighttime single, double and triple lane closures, as well as brief, 20-minute total stoppages. MDOT SHA will begin installing the new steel over southbound I-270, then shift to the northbound direction.

Motorists can expect single lane closures beginning at 7:00 pm, double lane closures at 9:00 pm and triple lane closures beginning at 11:00 pm with all lanes opening by 5:00 am each subsequent morning. Additionally, brief total closures will occur between 12 midnight and 5:00 am. The work will take place Sunday nights through Friday mornings.

The new interchange is at Watkins Mill Road in Gaithersburg, a little more than 4,000 feet north of where Quince Orchard Road crosses under I-270. It will provide both northbound and southbound entrance to I-270 and allow traffic to exit I-270 from both directions to go either east on Watkins Mill Road to Rt. 355 or west to Clopper Road.

The 1.25-mile project extends between MD 124 (Montgomery Village Avenue) and the Great Seneca Creek crossing near Game Preserve Road in Gaithersburg. Montgomery County contributed $4.9 million for the design and engineering phase of the project.

For a look at real-time commute conditions, customers are urged to visit www.md511.org, then click on lane closures.

Caption: Crews preparing to install new steel on the future Watkins Mill Road Bridge over I-270.

Photo courtesy MDOT SHA.