Charles Street Stretch To Close for 2 Years
This spring Charles Street between 25th Street and University Parkway will undergo massive reconstruction that is expected to last 750 days.
It’s going to be a long two years for commuters accustomed to driving along Charles Street and residents living in Charles Village.
Charles Street between 25th Street and University Parkway will be undergoing reconstruction anticipated to start in April and expected to take 750 days to complete.
Yes—750 days.
“We’re about to be in a great disturbance for about two years in my district because Charles Street will be closed for most of that time between 29th Street and University Parkway—except to local traffic,” Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke said.
According to the Baltimore City Department of Transportation, the street between 25th and 29th streets will be milled and resurfaced. Between 29th Street and University Parkway there will be a complete reconstruction of the road, median and sidewalk.
The construction will force a major change in traffic pattern, as vehicles headed north will head up Calvert Street from 28th Street to University Parkway. Art Museum Drive will continue to open onto Charles Street and allow motorists to continue to 33rd Street. Commuters headed south on Charles Street would be redirected east on University Parkway and then would have to take St. Paul Street south.
The project is part of a larger plan to revitalize Charles Street as a scenic byway through the city to Baltimore County. The project was announced in 2007 when then Mayor Sheila Dixon and the Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith held a press conference on the steps of the Baltimore Museum of Art to talk about the project.
Follow North Baltimore Patch on Facebook and Twitter.
Clarke, who represents the area, said she is working with the Department of Transportation and businesses in Charles Village to come up with a plan to mitigate parking problems caused by the construction.
She said she is worried about businesses along Chares and St. Paul streets, but also the impact it could have on parking further east in Charles Village. Clarke said she is working with transportation officials to come up with some kind of strategy to at least ease the parking crunch in the area.
“We have a domino (effect) situation with a Rubick's Cube solution,” Clarke said.
Jason Zaiderman, owner of Eddie’s Liquors in Charles Village, said the possibility of a loss of parking as a result of the construction is a concern for him because of his business’ proximity to Johns Hopkins University.
“I’m worried about the lack of parking, especially because of student move-ins and move-outs,” Zaiderman said.
In This article
-
The Baltimore Museum of Art
10 Art Museum Dr, Baltimore, MD -
Johns Hopkins University
5801 Smith Ave, Baltimore, MD
CW Baker
4:00 pm on Thursday, January 26, 2012
Hopefully we will be able to get speed cameras and red light cameras on Calvert Street. We already deal with thousands of rush hour commuters treating Calvert Street as an expressway.
Adam Bednar
4:06 pm on Thursday, January 26, 2012
I live on Calvert Street too and it will be interesting to see what the impact is.
Patrick Roanhouse
2:50 pm on Sunday, February 5, 2012
if you are gonna be doing something that big why not just put a Rapid charge electric trolly car/ bus like they have at American Universtiy now. Circulator doesn't even go that far up. A free public transit system that goes down and up that far would be nice. I mean just to have something connect to penn station that isn't the Hopkins shuttle would be nice.
Kun Sun Sweeley
7:48 pm on Sunday, February 5, 2012
Here's some more details of the reconstruction for Charles Street that came via email from my local City Councilperson Mary Pat Clarke:
"The Charles Street construction project is from 25th to University, but it’s the 28th to University stretch that will be closed to all but local traffic for two years.The service lane along the Hopkins westside will be eliminated and turned into greenspace. Some of the width remaining will turn Charles into two-way lanes of traffic. Streetscaping will be added all along this stretch, including artwork on the eastside of the 3300 block of North Charles."
So I went into Google Earth, got a Google Street View image of Charles Street looking South at the intersection of Charles & University and asked some questions with pushpins referencing certain parts of Charles and got a screenshot of it made and sent it to Clarke and asked her if the answers to all of my questions are "yes" and she confirmed that indeed all of the answers are yes, here's the mentioned screenshot: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vWt3kA43gWo/TysfzytlymI/AAAAAAAAFR8/LtGdJzMWtHc/snapshot.jpg?imgmax=1600
Christian
1:56 pm on Thursday, March 8, 2012
This is a beautification project aimed on giving JHU a grand entrance, because south of 2900 block of North Charles Street, the residents along that corridor, i.e., 2500 block of North Charles to the 2900 block of North Charles Street get nothing such as is planned for the area north of 2900 block of North Charles Street. The only thing we in that area get is "hopefully" a new road from 2500 to the end of 2800 block of North Charles Street, which one individual involved in the engineering stated at a meeting had to be done to answer any questions about what is planned for in the area. We do not get a median strip, nor do we get new sidewalks promised to a neighbor, nor do we get granite on the curbs, nor do we get new trees and/or anything that would connect the project with the expansive drive entrance to JHU. It is a $30,000,000. project paid for by the city and Federal Government, with JHU giving a $2,500,000. contribution to the project, after they received another $2,500,000. grant from the Feds. It is like the yellow brick road on the way to Oz and we are paying for it.