A Druid Hill Park For Those Near & Far

 Long before the Article in last week's Baltimore Sun about how Druid Hill Park is essentially cut off from its surrounding Neighborhood graced the collective conscience of its readers, I have thought the same thing; It's completely car oriented. It's as if the Park was designed for out of towners instead of its actual Neighbors. In Urban Planning be it Parks or Sky Scrapers, nothing is an accident. But Why? Why would planners want to cut the Park off from those who live near it? We'll discuss not only that but how Baltimore, like the Sun Article suggests, should spend its stimulus money making the Park accessible to those live near it.

There was a time that Druid Hill Park didn't cater to cars exclusively. In fact, it didn't cater to cars at all. Cars had yet to exist at the inception of the Park. The point in which these changes in design of the roadways around the Park thereby cutting off accessibility to it can be traced by to post war mid 20th Century Baltimore. If you think you know where this post is going, you're right.

Redlining is partially if not fully responsible for the isolation of Druid Hill Park as we know it. Do you think it's coincidence that larger streets like Auchentrolly Terrace and Druid Park Lake Drive came into existence as White Flight in Park Heights, Mondawmin, and Reservoir Hill was in full swing? I think not. As I said previously, everything in urban planning is done on purpose. Even if that purpose is sinister. My guess is that fleeing White families from those Neighborhoods still wanted "their" Druid Hill Park and didn't want the encroaching Black Residents in "their" Park when they drove back to visit "their" Park when they drove there from whatever Suburb they relocated to. City Planners were happy to oblige.

So here we are decades later with a Park that excludes the very Residents who would benefit the most from having it as its Neighbor. Those locals who do dare to benefit from the amenities offered by the Park must negotiate several lanes of traffic going at near highway speeds with no crosswalks or signals offering Residents a break. Heck, there aren't much in the way of sidewalks there either. 

One thing that has been is the narrowing of Druid Park Lake Drive so that pedestrians and cyclists may walk the area more freely. Although this is a welcome improvement, I do believe that more must be done to integrate Druid Hill Park into the urban landscape of Baltimore. First, on the western edge of the park where there is frontage on Auchentrolly Terrace, there should be pedestrian and cyclist oriented signals for people entering the Park. 

Next, the wide streets should all be redesigned and narrowed to allow pedestrians to cross and navigate these streets safely. This includes Auchentrolly Terrace, Druid Park Lake Drive (something more permanent), and relocating the southern terminus of Greenspring Avenue to just above the Park. There is no need to have that vehicular access going through the Park and closing off the western edge to Park goers. Large streets south of the park like Fulton Ave, Callow Ave, Park Ave, and Eutaw Place will all undergo streetscape enhancements to keep the park like synergy going into surrounding Neighborhoods and draw existing local Residents into the Park for the first time in more than half a century.

Now if you're thinking these steps I'm proposing are relatively small, you're absolutely right. So now I'm proposing the big stuff. The first would be a connection to Gwynns Falls Parkway from Druid Park Lake Drive. This includes tearing and rebuilding the Parkview/Woodbrook Neighborhood after Druid Park Lake Drive is relocated to turn into Gwynns Falls Parkway just south of Mondawmin Mall. This will create an east/west link across North Baltimore parallel to North Ave, Northern Parkway, and Coldspring Lane. The interchange of Druid Park Lake Drive and Auchentrolly Terrace would be demolished in favor of a traffic light to encourage a more walkable street network.

Next we come to the JFX. It hinders any eastern connection to the Park for Neighborhoods like Remington, Hampden, and Station North. Although I'm not against tunneling the JFX in the Druid Hill Park are, I think we can settle for a redesign of the 28th/29th St./Druid Park Lake Drive and North Ave interchanges to take up less land and traffic signals for the entrance/exit ramps that are pedestrian friendly so that Remington, Station North and points east can feel safe walking to Druid Hill Park.

Speaking of Neighborhoods, there will be lots of land for redevelopment in Parkview/Woodbrook and the northern border of  Reservoir Hill. I believe the redeveloped housing should take advantage of the newly accessible Park and being near the Park should be an asset instead of a liability. By taking advantage of all that the Park and surrounding areas provide, we can truly create a Druid Hill Park for those near & far.