If you've been reading my past few posts they've been a part of a series of posts on SoWeBo. This is the last one of the series. Keep in mind as I ink this post all the other posts are meant to fit together like a puzzle.
With everything I proposed I thought that SoWeBo should get its own little mass transit line. Train tracks are a dime a dozen here. That's what would make this project as feasible as it is. In fact, the B&O Railroad's eastern terminus was at Camden Yards. It went westward along what's known today as Carroll Park and parallel to Wilkens Avenue.
The SoWeBo Trolley would start at St. Agnes Hospital where I proposed a new Biotech Park across the street at the soon to be closed Cardinal Gibbons School. I would build a new Transit Hub here as this is on the MARC Penn Line and the proposed localized "Purple Line." This new Hub would serve the Violetville/Morrell Park Neighborhoods.
Well we're on way aboard the SoWeBo trolley via the old B&O tracks. Our first stop is at Smallwood St. which will serve the Mill Hill and Carrollton Ridge Neighborhoods. As part of my St. Agnes Biotech Park these neighborhoods will undergo a massive transformation to repopulate these diamonds in the rough.
The next stop (Carey St.) will serve the Mount Clare/ Union Square Neighborhoods. I published two separate posts calling for massive reinvestment in each Community. Union Square has come a long way since its initial decline in the 1960s and I see it continuing to turn for the better. Its Public Square and the H.L. Menken House (pictured above) act as tourist attractions. Mount Clare needs a lot more assistance so I called for the American Reinvestment and Recovery to transform all vacants into livable homes once again.
This was supposed to be the last stop but then I got an idea. More about that later. This stop will be at the Mount Clare Junction Shopping Center. Hopefully a transit stop will pump some new life into the struggling Shopping Center, whose Safeway Anchor just shut down. This will serve Pigtown, Hollins Market, and perhaps Ridgley's Delight east of MLK Boulevard.
Speaking of MLK Boulevard, from Pratt St. to Mt&T Bank Stadium, I would extend the Trolley Line. This is where new tracks would be added seeing as the old B&O tracks have stopped. The Red Line is supposed to go along MLK Boulevard but I have always favored it going through the Westside of Downtown rather than just grazing it.
Well here we are at Camden Yards, which has become a Transit Hub in its own right with both the MARC Camden Line and the Light Rail having stops here. The Yellow Line would also separate itself from the current Light Rail Line here in the 2002 Regional Rail Plan (I am favor of this) so I decided to put the SoWeBo Trolley's eastern end here. Why? Because it starts at a MARC track and ends another MARC track. Even though the two MARC lines that serve Baltimore cross in the Halethorpe Arbutus area there is no joint transfer stop. The SoWeBo Trolley attempts to remedy this by being a go between for the two MARC lines.
Well that's it! End of the Line! This both concludes my post for the SoWeBo Trolley and my serious of posts regarding SoWeBo , marking the final piece of the puzzle. I hope you enjoyed reading about my SoWeBo plans as I much I did thinking them up and writing about them.
If you've been reading my past few posts they've been a part of a series of posts on SoWeBo. This is the last one of the series. Keep in mind as I ink this post all the other posts are meant to fit together like a puzzle.
With everything I proposed I thought that SoWeBo should get its own little mass transit line. Train tracks are a dime a dozen here. That's what would make this project as feasible as it is. In fact, the B&O Railroad's eastern terminus was at Camden Yards. It went westward along what's known today as Carroll Park and parallel to Wilkens Avenue.
The SoWeBo Trolley would start at St. Agnes Hospital where I proposed a new Biotech Park across the street at the soon to be closed Cardinal Gibbons School. I would build a new Transit Hub here as this is on the MARC Penn Line and the proposed localized "Purple Line." This new Hub would serve the Violetville/Morrell Park Neighborhoods. 
Well we're on way aboard the SoWeBo trolley via the old B&O tracks. Our first stop is at Smallwood St. which will serve the Mill Hill and Carrollton Ridge Neighborhoods. As part of my St. Agnes Biotech Park these neighborhoods will undergo a massive transformation to repopulate these diamonds in the rough.
The next stop (Carey St.) will serve the Mount Clare/ Union Square Neighborhoods. I published two separate posts calling for massive reinvestment in each Community. Union Square has come a long way since its initial decline in the 1960s and I see it continuing to turn for the better. Its Public Square and the H.L. Menken House (pictured above) act as tourist attractions. Mount Clare needs a lot more assistance so I called for the American Reinvestment and Recovery to transform all vacants into livable homes once again.
This was supposed to be the last stop but then I got an idea. More about that later. This stop will be at the Mount Clare Junction Shopping Center. Hopefully a transit stop will pump some new life into the struggling Shopping Center, whose Safeway Anchor just shut down. This will serve Pigtown, Hollins Market, and perhaps Ridgley's Delight east of MLK Boulevard.
Speaking of MLK Boulevard, from Pratt St. to Mt&T Bank Stadium, I would extend the Trolley Line. This is where new tracks would be added seeing as the old B&O tracks have stopped. The Red Line is supposed to go along MLK Boulevard but I have always favored it going through the Westside of Downtown rather than just grazing it.
Well here we are at Camden Yards, which has become a Transit Hub in its own right with both the MARC Camden Line and the Light Rail having stops here. The Yellow Line would also separate itself from the current Light Rail Line here in the 2002 Regional Rail Plan (I am favor of this) so I decided to put the SoWeBo Trolley's eastern end here. Why? Because it starts at a MARC track and ends another MARC track. Even though the two MARC lines that serve Baltimore cross in the Halethorpe Arbutus area there is no joint transfer stop. The SoWeBo Trolley attempts to remedy this by being a go between for the two MARC lines. 
Well that's it! End of the Line! This both concludes my post for the SoWeBo Trolley and my serious of posts regarding SoWeBo , marking the final piece of the puzzle. I hope you enjoyed reading about my SoWeBo plans as I much I did thinking them up and writing about them.
1 comment:
I used to live right by Montgomery Wards when I was a kid.I saw the Pigtown sign.That is right down by Barre Steet.I would like to see that neighborhood revive again.
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