Baltimore InnerSpace: May 2012

May 9, 2012

Druid Hill Park Roundabout

Roundabouts that actually solve problems

Hopefully, the city is taking roundabouts seriously as a specific tool in solving real problems of traffic and its impact on the environment. The city's proposal to restore the former roundabout at Park Circle, using modern techniques and standards, is a good sign. The jumble of channelized road connections installed there at Reisterstown and Park Heights about fifty years ago to replace the roundabout never worked.

The labyrinthine concrete mess at the other corner of Druid Hill Park - the intersection of Fulton, McCulloh, Druid Hill, Druid Park Lake Drive and Auchentoroly Terrace - has never worked either. I mentioned that in my Baltimore Brew article of November 19, 2010. Now I've drawn up an example of how it might be done, as shown here.

This should be part of a larger step-by-step effort to undo the long-term damage highways have inflicted to the relationship between the neighborhoods and the park. It's about reinvention. It's not just a matter of trying to carve out street space for bikes or anyone else, such as the "complete streets" program which was rejected by the nearby community on Monroe Street.

Hopefully, the city will not just be using roundabouts to make a showy "statement", such as their half-baked plan for Light Street and Key Highway in the Inner Harbor.

"THE AMAZON LINE": METRO EXTENSION FROM HOPKINS HOSPITAL TO BOENING/HOLABIRD TRADEPOINT ATLANTIC

Today's Sun (Sept 27, 2017) just announced "the final phase of negotiations" for a second regional Amazon distribution center at TradePoint Atlantic - the gigantic commercial center being built on the old site of the Sparrow's Point steel mill.

Amazon's first center was built on Broening Highway south of Bayview. The city, state and Kevin Plank's Sagamore Development are also preparing plans to attract Amazon's second corporate headquarters to Port Covington next to Under Armour in South Baltimore. Sagamore is also building its own distribution center for Under Armour at TradePoint Atlantic.

The future of Baltimore's economic development is thus unfolding: Centralized urban corporate campuses and suburban port-related distribution to the east.

This comes a week after venture capitalist and former mayoral candidate David Warnock wrote in the Baltimore Sun of the need for an overarching economic development strategy to take advantage of the strong geographic position these types of developments offer Baltimore.

Two of Mr. Warnock's five "key initiatives" were rail transit lines proposed first here to get workers to and from these city and suburban developments - A west Red Line converging on the existing Metro and light rail lines at a Lexington Market Hub, and a Metro Extension eastward from Hopkins Hospital that would serve all three existing, planned and proposed Amazon and Under Armour distribution facilities.

In turn, a spur from the central light rail line southward into Port Covington has become a key element of their adopted plan now in development.

So just as this economic strategy is unfolding, a strong rail transit structure to serve it is also emerging: Lexington Market would be the comprehensive central hub. The heavy rail Metro would be the high speed, high capacity spine from Owings Mills to Sparrow's Point (and also White Marsh), and the central light rail line would provide additional branches to Port Covington, BWI-Marshall Airport, Hunt Valley and other nearby points.

The Metro is sufficiently fast and high capacity to be extended well into the suburbs. The central light rail line is sufficiently flexible to accommodate light rail and streetcar spurs to key economic development areas.

And all of it can be built in small economically manageable segments.