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Welcome to the Charles Street Website => December 2009 Update. The previous Charles Street Reconstruction project website, has been updated and revised to present the re-start of Final Design activities in January 2010. Please use this website for access to current information, project updates, and previous studies and reports. Comments are welcome.
CHARLES STREET FINAL DESIGN RESUMES JANUARY 2010.
Final Design of the Charles Street Reconstruction is anticipated to resume in January 2010. Due to design funding issues, the design has been dramatically slowed for the past 9 months.
The Design Team delighted to commence on the final leg of the design effort. We expect to schedule Stakeholder meeting in June 2010 and January 2011. Design is expected to be completed mid-2011 with the contract advertised in late 2011 for a Spring 2012 start of construction.
The City and Design Team will be coordinating with the Public Arts Commission and the artist they select to develop details for art to be incorporated into the project. It is expected that the art concepts will be available for review in late 2010.
Overview:
Extending from South Baltimore north to the Baltimore Beltway, Charles Street is one of Baltimore City's premier streets. It is also now listed as a Maryland Scenic Byway. The North Charles Street boulevard portion, between 29 th Street and University Parkway, is lined with residential, commercial, academic/institutional, and religious organizations and is one of the more beautiful sections of this important street. Although the current design by Wyatt and Nolting completed in the early 1900's was not without controversy (reference Charles Street, A Boulevard Revisited - produced by David Holden for the Friends of Maryland's Olmsted Parks and Landscapes, Inc., 2000), the street has continued to serve increasing land use, traffic, pedestrian and parking demands.
Landmarks along the boulevard portion of North Charles Street include the Wyman Park Dell and Charles Village Community, the Baltimore Museum of Art, Johns Hopkins University, and several religious institutions. Unfortunately, the current plan and lane utilization dating from an early 20th Century design, when combined with today's traffic volumes, speeds and heavy pedestrian crossings, merits serious reassessment and re-evaluation. Master Plans previously prepared for Charles Village, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and Johns Hopkins University have identified the need to improve North Charles Street.
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