Rerouting Route 1

Before the interstate era, Route 1 was known as the road that traveled from Maine to Florida. These days we traveling from Maine to Florida by car we take I-95 since it doesn't have any traffic lights. Route 1 is not a straight shot from Maine to Florida because as Cities have grown around it, it's gotten chopped up and rerouted. It has been given bypasses and alternate routes so that older sections of the road that can't be widened aren't overwhelmed with thru traffic.

Route 1's journey through Baltimore City is no different. It uses many different monikers upon entering the City from the Southwest as "Washington Boulevard" before taking the route of Monroe St./Fulton Ave., then North Ave, before turning Northeast as Belair Road to leave the City. When entering the City as Washington Boulevard, and as Monroe St./Fulton Avenue, it's assigned the moniker "Alt Route 1." 

This is because the road splits in two in Halethorpe. The other Route 1 takes on the moniker "Southwestern Boulevard" which is a wider limited access Route 1 that goes through Halethorpe and Arbutus before entering the City and joining Wilkins Avenue. Wilkins Avenue doubles as Route before meeting Monroe St/Fulton Avenue where Route 1 joins Alt. Route 1. This is the complete journey of Route 1 in Baltimore City.

The purpose of this post is to re-route 1 Route 1 with the goal of connecting Washington Boulevard to Belair Road. This will be a one way Northbound connection while southbound will go via North Avenue and Monroe St. between Belair Road and Washington Boulevard. To start this transformation, I will switch the monikers when the splits off in Halethorpe. Southwestern Boulevard will now be known as "Alt Route 1" and Washington Boulevard will simply remain "Route 1."

Currently, Washington Boulevard loses its Route 1 moniker after its intersection with Monroe St. Washington Boulevard will now remain as Route 1 all the way through Pigtown. Currently when Washington Boulevard meets MLK Boulevard, all traffic must turn onto MLK since Washington Boulevard is a one way Southbound St. between Paca St. and MLK. I will turn Washington Boulevard into a one way Northbound St. between Paca St, and MLK to continue Route 1 as a straight shot though the City Northbound.

Washington Boulevard ends rather unceremoniously at Russell St. and Pratt. St. Now that Washington Boulevard is a northbound one way street through Ridgely's Delight, Route 1 can continue on down Pratt St until it meets Gay St. just past the Harbor. Gay St. ends at Old Town Mall and blends into Ensor St. currently. It used to continue through Old Town Mall and connect to the other end of Gay St. at Broadway. I will dedicate another post on how to execute rebuilding and reconnecting Gay St. Gay St. ultimately meets North Avenue and on the other side of North Avenue becomes Belair Road and regains the Route 1 moniker. The entire length of Gay St., once rebuilt will once again employ the Route 1 moniker.  

Now I'm sure you're wondering why rerouting Route 1 is necessary. I believe that giving it a more homogeneous path will allow for further reinvestment and redevelopment in the Neighborhoods it travels through. I also believe that traffic on more congested routes in the City may experience relief if more cars recognized the rerouted Route 1 as a viable path.    

Baltimore's New East Side: The Next Phase

The redevelopment of East Baltimore by Hopkins has been controversial to say the least. Those still living in the distressed Neighborhood thought that re-populating the vacant blocks in its existing state would be better than tearing it all down. Since the intended land use of many of these blocks were not meant to be row homes anymore, redevelopment beat out preservation.

The origins of this redevelopment began with Hopkins' intention to build a Biotech Park north of its Hospital. In order to attract start up firms, Hopkins decided that the surrounding Neighborhood, which was distressed 30% vacant, had to be revitalized to make it a draw for its workers. The City applauded Hopkins efforts and allowed them to move forward with their plan. Block after block of vacant row homes were torn down in favor of mixed use development from Residential, Commercial, Retail, and Medical Uses. All and all, between 1200-1500 new and rehabbed homes would flank the blocks north of Hopkins.

The mid 2000s saw a flurry of demolition and redevelopment. The new East Baltimore was beginning to take shape. In 2008, like all other development in Baltimore and every City in the Country the economy crashing put the brakes on it. A few new Apartment Buildings and a block of new town homes became the only new development that Hopkins had to show for despite all the demolition. Not only that, the large Biotech Park that was to be the cornerstone of the new East Baltimore began needing smaller and smaller amounts of lab space while some companies pulled out all together.

As the 2000s became the 2010s, not much had changed on the development front. The vacant lots remained vacant and the vacant row homes also remained vacant. The vitality of the development was also questioned many times since the project had stalled completely. This was not uncommon because multiple large projects throughout the City had stalled during this time and their vitality was questioned. In some cases, the vitality is still being questioned and these projects have yet to get off the ground.

Obviously this sent Hopkins planners back to the drawing board as they had too much invested to see this fail. Some of the land meant to house Biotech Offices and Labs were developed as Apartments meant to lure in Med Students studying at the Hospital. A Walgreens has opened on the ground floor of this building. In addition, a 15 story mixed use building housing a Marriott Residence Inn and ground floor Retail space is under construction next door to the new Apartments. That same block is currently housing "Eager Park" which provides a park like oasis in the middle of the Hopkins Complex.

On the Residential side of things, the vacant blocks of Eager St. which have come to represent the stalled nature of the project, are finally seeing sign of life as well. Mostly, they will be developed as mixed income town homes but the swaths if land closer to the Hospital will be Apartments. Perhaps the crown & jewel of this new Neighborhood has been the Hopkins-Henderson Elementary School. Given how scarce School Construction has been in the City, it's nice to see that Hopkins has stepped in to help build a brand new School for the City and replace the aging Elmer A. Henderson Elementary which had been this area's local School.

Although new construction has been picking up, I would like to point out what I consider to be the more remarkable transformation; Rehabs. To keep the traditional row house nature of East Baltimore alive in the midst of redevelopment, Hopkins has allowed blocks of row homes that are salvageable to be gutted and rehabbed. Rehabbed row homes have quietly been bought up and are being occupied by new owners along Broadway, Chase St., Preston St., McDounogh St., and Gay St.

What's even more exciting is that row homes outside of the Hopkins Redevelopment area are getting rehabbed as a result. Broadway north of the area, Preston St. and Caroline St. west of the area and the Milton-Montford area east of the area has been dubbed "Station East." These outside rehab blocks show that private investment and ownership is on the rise and that the Hopkins Redevelopment is creating a "Tentacle Effect" reaching beyond its boundaries.

Since East Baltimore is considered a "Food Desert", this next project is all the more exciting. At the abandoned Eastern Pumping Station just north of the Hopkins Redevelopment area, will be a Food Hub. This will create jobs for the area as well as fresh food. In addition to the jobs and job training offered, much of this currently vacant land will become a much needed urban farm.

Although it may have been long stalled, East Baltimore has entered its next phase. Although there are many good things on the book for East Baltimore, this surely isn't the last phase of large scale redevelopment and reinvestment to create Baltimore's New East Side.  

East North Avenue: A Haven for Investment

North Avenue has been in the news a lot lately for representing all that's wrong with Baltimore and urban America as a whole. I'd like to take this opportunity to tell show all the potential the eastern end of North Avenue has to become a thriving community. There are many hidden gems hidden throughout East North Avenue and surrounding areas that can help lead the way to a great future. There are also many pitfalls in the area which I would like to turn around and make the gems they rightfully should be. In order to do that, East North Avenue must be a haven for investment.

Nothing is more helpful to a disinvested Community than reinvestment. It shows its citizens that the City hasn't forgotten about them. The end result is a nicer Community! East North Avenue doesn't have very many of these examples but there is a big one happening along the road itself; streetscape enhancements. On North Avenue between Harford Road and Washington St. a $2 Million grant has been given to repave the road, redo the sidewalks, put crosswalks in the intersections, upgrade lighting, replace traffic lights, and add pedestrian signals. This is a great start for these blocks but I think the streetscape enhancement areas should be expanded in both directions. Westbound to Greenmount Avenue and Eastbound to Baltimore Cemetery.

East North Avenue has some investment coming its way and doesn't even know it. For instance, as part of Hopkins Redevelopment project in Middle East, many blocks north of Hopkins along Broadway are seeing their long vacant row homes rehabbed and sold. This trend of reinvestment is making its way towards North Avenue. What I would like to see is something I call a "tentacle effect" where northbound streets have reinvestment trending northward to North Avenue. More specifically Gay St. and Harford Avenue.

Along North Avenue, I don't want there to be too much demolition. Although redevelopment will occur, I would like that to be on land that is already vacant. Given the success stories of rehabbing row homes in other parts of East Baltimore, I would like to see the same happen along North Avenue. I do however, have a couple of redevelopment zones in mind for East North Avenue which as I noted above, are areas where demolition has already occurred.

A big area of redevelopment will be on Gay. St. The southern most blocks of Gay St. are included in the Hopkins redevelopment and blocks closer to North Avenue, the American Brewery Building has been lovely restored and across the street, a new Senior Center has just been built. In between those areas however, are several vacant and almost vacant blocks along Gay St. Since new mixed income town homes have done well in other parts of East Baltimore, I'm proposing several new blocks of housing along Gay St. and surrounding blocks to further the "tentacle effect."

The other redevelopment area also includes Gay St. but this section is above North Ave. There are some vacant industrial areas with a few vacant row houses strewn about the area bordered by North Avenue, Collington Avenue, Sinclair Lane, and Gay St. A redevelopment project of this magnitude will change the entire landscape of the eastern end of the North Avenue. The new development will contain mostly new row homes as well as row house style Apartments with ground floor Retail where there's North Avenue Frontage.

Although some redevelopment is included for E. North Avenue, the vast majority of the population growth I would like to see is from reinvestment in the current housing stock. Further south, around Hopkins, there are incentives for Hopkins workers to buy in the area. I would like to repeat that incentive model for E. North Ave. Instead of Hospital workers, this time I would provide it for workers of Social Services and the Eastside District Courthouse. There are other distressed areas of the City that don't have much in the way of nearby employment areas. E. North Avenue has this advantage and the Community can further sustain itself if nearby workers became nearby Residents.

Another aspect of E. North Avenue I want to promote is focal points. These focal points will draw visitors into the area and help promote a welcoming environment. One of the best assets of the area is the newly rehabbed Columbus School. The Great Blacks in Wax Museum is also great draw to the area but I believe exterior facade renovations will help achieve focal point status as well.

The old Ashley Apartments are a focal point but for all the wrong reasons. The vacancy and decay of this architectural diamond in the rough show just how beautiful the area once was. Due to the size and historic nature of the building, the cost of restoring and rehabbing this building will be very high. This poses a problem to E. North Avenue because it hinders development in its current state but developers won't want to invest a red cent in it until the surrounding Neighborhood makes big improvements. The uses of a rehabbed Ashley Apartment building are endless. With that in mind, I'm proposing mixed use Retail/Office/Community/Residential and make it a focal point for all the right reasons.

As development in Hopkins and Station North continues, a comprehensive next step must be taken in order to keep the synergy of those areas going. E. North Avenue is the logical next step to connect these two areas. By marketing E. North Avenue as a haven for investment it will then become just that; A Haven for Investment.    
 

West Baltimore St. Has Zest

During the initial stages of the Westside of Downtown's revitalization, there was a slogan being used known as The West Has Zest! Sadly a slogan is just that, a slogan and just saying that the West has Zest doesn't make it true. It is indeed true that for the most part, the West does NOT have Zest. I did however find a small area of the Westside that does in fact gave Zest; Baltimore St. the 300 and 400 blocks to be more specific. This begs the question on what was done right on Baltimore St. and how that can be duplicated to bring Zest to all the West.

So lets now focus on why W. Baltimore St. has zest. There are many reasons but the ones that stick out to me are that the buildings in good enough shape were gutted and rehabbed from the ground up, it's very close to UMB, the Hippodrome, and Camden Yards, and there is a critical mass of people in the area. There is also a high rise mixed use building under construction on W. Baltimore St. under construction that will only add to the critical mass of feet on the ground needed to sustain a Downtown.

Unlike my previous post on Charles North, the Westside of Downtown will need new high rises to sustain itself. In fact, the very street that this post focuses on (W. Baltimore St.) has a new high rise under construction at the writing of the post. I think of West Baltimore St. as its own little sub-district within Downtown's Westside. In order to bring Zest to the rest of the Westside, I'm going to develop five additional sub-districts like W. Baltimore St. further act like catalysts.

The first sub-district, like W. Baltimore St. already has Zest. I'm talking of course about the University of Maryland Baltimore Campus. The campus has grown considerably in the past 15-20 years with new buildings replacing old ones. However, the campus (including the University of Maryland Medical Center) stops at Fayette St. and it appears there's an invisible line that Students appear not to cross. My solution would be to create student housing with ground floor Retail and upper floor Residences along Greene St., Paca St., and Eutaw St. between Fayette St. and Lexington St. which will connect the University to Lexington Market.

The second sub-district is Lexington Market itself. Lexington Market could really use a shot in the arm in terms of its surroundings. The market itself will be undergoing a massive renovation in the coming months which should be helpful. However, the surrounding area remains untouched. Before the economy crashed, there were plans to build three high rise Apartment and Condo Buildings over top of a small parking garage directly across Paca St. from Lexington Market. I think this project needs to be re-opened and ultimately built to increase density and Residences by Lexington Market.

On Paca St., just below Lexington Market is a small surface parking lot. I would like to see a transit hub built here with a mid rise Hotel above it. If Lexington Market is to be a world class destination, it deserves a Hotel right next to, if not attached to it. On the north side of Saratoga St. just east of Paca St., lies another surface parking lot which I believe should house offices on the upper floors and Retail on the ground floor. Both of these new buildings will feature underground parking. Also in the Lexington Market sub-district is yet another surface parking lot on the west side of Greene St. below Saratoga St. This should be the site of a high rise mixed use Residential building. The boarded up row house Retail on the 600 block of Lexington St. will have to be demolished to make way for this new building.    

The third sub-district is Howard St. between Lexington St. and Centre St. I have purposely omitted the "Super Block" for this post since it's its own monster. This stretch of Howard St. has some beautiful historic buildings that are predominantly vacant and boarded up. There are a few Retail stores still open on the ground floor of these buildings but their upper floor windows are either boarded up, filled with cinder blocks, or gone from the facade all together. This is a shame because these blocks of buildings could make for a gorgeous little village in the middle of Downtown if restored right.

My plan for these blocks of Howard St. is to do just that. The style and height of the buildings along this section of Howard St. mimic that of the 300 & 400 blocks of W. Baltimore St. that have been so handsomely revitalized and are the inspiration for this post. One could say that these blocks of Howard St. have more continuous buildings than the 300 & 400 blocks of W. Baltimore St. since those blocks do have redevelopment in them. I would restore all the buildings to their original grandeur with ground floor Retail and more importantly, Apartments above to help achieve feet on the ground in these currently desolate blocks of Howard St.

The fourth sub-district is Franklin St.and the blocks surrounding it. I've never noticed before but Franklin St. has a decent number of surface parking lots that if developed, it will spur reinvestment and redevelopment of existing buildings. Between Howard St. and Park Avenue there sits the former Hoschild Kohn furniture building has been restored to the 520 Park Apartments. I think a new Condo Building with Franklin St. frontage with a height similar to the existing 520 Park Apartments. Another similar building with Offices instead of Condos will be built on Howard St. just below Centre St.

I would have loved to save the Mayfair Theatre or at least the marquis but decades of neglect and a recent fire have made that impossible. Any new development at the Mayfair will see that entire building torn down. Luckily the old Congress Hotel has been restored and is now home to the Baltimore Ethical Society. In that block, I would propose building a mixed use building that has frontage on Franklin St., Howard St., and Eutaw St to complete the block. Just below Franklin St. on Park Avenue sits some dilapidated row house Retail. I would have that redeveloped along with the surface lot adjacent to it as new row house Retail with functioning Apartments above it.

The fifth and final sub-district consists of one behemoth building; the vacant Social Security building. This building is super-block within itself and is ugly, over-sized and most likely can not be reused. In addition to the building's design woes, the eastern end of the road to nowhere impedes on it. With that being said, I obviously want to knock it down and start from scratch. What I don't know, is how redevelop it. I assume it will be several buildings of very density and heights. The road to Nowhere bridges will have to be torn-down in conjunction to revise the traffic patterns on Franklin and Mulberry Streets as well as MLK Boulevard. The end result. whatever it may be needs to act as a gateway to Downtown from West Baltimore and vice versa as well as a gateway between Seton Hill and Downtown.

Bringing Zest to the Westside of Downtown will be an uphill battle but the rebirth of the 300 & 400 blocks of West Baltimore St. shows that it can be done with the correct mix of stores and new and old buildings. I don't know is Zest can return to the other sub-districts I mentioned but I can say that West Baltimore St. has Zest.

Charles North: No High Rises Please

During the latter half of the 20th Century, the Charles North Neighborhood was nothing more than blight separating Baltimore's showcase neighborhoods of Charles Village and Mount Vernon. A big reason this neighborhood became blighted was due to the fact that North Avenue runs directly through it and Goucher College, an institute that anchored neighborhood both in employment and residence had moved to Towson thereby emptying out the neighborhood.

In the early 2000s, in order to revitalize Charles North and neighboring Greenmount West, were designated an Arts & Entertainment District known as Station North. The City looked to capitalize on the area's proximity to Penn Station, Mount Vernon, Charles Village, Johns Hopkins University, MICA, and University of Baltimore which are all within a stones throw of Station North. This post however, will only discuss the Charles North portion of the district.

The Arts & Entertainment designation brought artists far and wide to Charles North and taking up residence in the area and opening businesses which brought both sweat equity and foot traffic back into the area. Buildings that long been vacant like the North Avenue Market, the Center Theatre, the Parkway Theatre, and the Charles Theatre are seeing brilliant restorations while businesses like the Windup Space and Joe Squared Pizza have drawn more people into the area.

There's a downside to Arts & Entertainment Districts though. They're meant to be for those with lower incomes to rent or purchase homes and businesses in the area and revitalize them using sweat equity. Sadly, this sweat equity make the property values sky rocket and the very Residents who helped create this vibrant Neighborhood are then priced out as landlords look to raise the rents and full on gentrify the Neighborhood. Charles North was no different.

In 2008, a Master Plan for the Charles North community was published and it showed six high end high rises buildings dominating the landscape of Charles North. I don't have a picture of the rendering but the high rises resemble those currently proposed for Port Covington. That part of the Master Plan did not go over well for Charles North Residents. Actually, very few parts of it did since they the Residents, built the Community into what it is today and they didn't want the City butting in to the Community they built.

I was for the Master Plan in 2008 when it came out. My mind has since changed and I am now not for them. Charles North was one Community that I believe benefited from the economy crashing in 2008. Had that not happened I believe the high rises would have been built and Charles North Residents would begin to be priced out of the Neighborhood they rebuilt.

As the years went by, existing buildings continued to be rehabbed and brought back to life. Throughout Charles North there a few buildings demolished quite possibly to make way for the proposed high rises. As of now, only one plan for a high rise has been submitted and that's in the surface level parking lot just above Penn Station.

So why did I flip flop on the issue of high rises? Well that's simple, I walk around the Charles North area and I see a plethora of Art Galleries, independent Restaurants and Pubs, a diverse array of Residents and Businesses, beautifully restored buildings, a landscaped median made up of work by local Artists. I don't want to see any of that change. As higher incomes flood the Neighborhood so too do the chain stores and the increased rents. In addition, the architectural gems in the area waiting to be restored would have a higher chance of hitting the wrecking ball.

So what do I have in mind for Charles North? More of the same, more rehabbed Artist Housing, more Local Businesses setting up shop, more green space, an expanded North Avenue median, a fully renovated Penn Station with its upper floors used a Hotel, and no affordable rent hikes. I would like all of that and more but no high rises please.

Dismantling the JFX II: Northbound

When dismantling the southbound lanes of the JFX, it more or less opens the back doors of Downtown and Mount Vernon and puts them on ground level to generate more foot traffic. When dismantling the northbound lanes, we uncover a piece of the City that has been forgotten due to the construction of the JFX. Forgetting this part of the City was deliberate and when traveling down these old roads, it's apparent. The area I'm referring to, is the Fallsway.

The Fallsway, besides being my route for northbound traffic once the JFX is dismantled, served as a two way means to get to and from Downtown from the northern stretches of the City and County. It also covered up the namesake Jones Falls so that Downtown and East Baltimore may connect to one another. Access to Oldtown Mall, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and all of East Baltimore now had easy access to Downtown and Mount Vernon.

At the time the Eisenhower interstate bill was being funded, East Baltimore had begun decaying quickly and shareholders didn't want that blight to come to Downtown or Mount Vernon. Since an expressway was supposed to cut through Downtown and then go through Fells Point and Canton via Fleet St. and Boston St. respectively, the path in between Downtown and East Baltimore was the best choice to act as a Boundary between the two. Once the JFX opened, it worked like a charm.

During the early days of the JFX, Downtown began its renaissance with Charles Center and eventually the Inner Harbor while East Baltimore continued its decay. The Fallsway began to like the Baltimore of yesteryear as redevelopment quickly moved Downtown and in East Baltimore industrial decay made way for parking lots and residential decay made way for public housing high rises and low rises while Oldtown Mall continued its dissent to what we say today.

What we see today is a Fallsway that's all but forgotten. Not only has the Fallsway itself been forgotten but its cross streets have too. Hillen St.,? Gay St.,? Holiday St.? These were once important intersections connecting Downtown to East Baltimore that the JFX and the Orleans St, viaduct have made impossible to find let alone use.

Other parts of East Baltimore have seen a renaissance. The area around Johns Hopkins Hospital has become a hot bed for reinvestment and redevelopment with new homes, offices, labs, and eventually retail, and a hotel. In addition, there has also been great care taken to rehab existing row homes that are in good enough condition to warrant it. Currently, the goal is to connect the synergies between Downtown and Hopkins and the Fallsway has to play a big role in doing so.

As I have mentioned, this posts is dedicated to dismantling the JFX so lets go ahead and do so. My last post discussed an alignment for the southbound lanes primarily using Guilford Avenue and a then a small part of the former JFX to evenly connect it with President St. So lets talk about the northbound alignment for when the JFX is dismantled.

That alignment will be the Fallsway. In fact, not much will have to change about the Fallsway's layout. During most its alignment, the road is wide enough, the two way traffic will have to be converted to one way northbound lanes. There are on ramps and off ramps to and from the JFX which narrow the Fallsway for a block or two but part of the dismantling of the JFX will see those ramps demolished allowing for the Fallsway to be widened.

Now just like that, these forgotten roads and intersections that were severed by the JFX will reconnect Downtown and Mount Vernon to East Baltimore. Holiday St., Hillen St., and Gay St. will now be major player in moving traffic northeast via East Baltimore. There are more in depth posts on how this will be done in the future. Also streets like Eager St. and Monument St. will no longer stop and start up again on either side of the soon to be dismantled JFX. They will simply cross into East Baltimore without any interruptions.

The biggest change to the Fallsway will take place at its northern end. Currently just above Chase St. and curves west crossing the JFX and joining Guilford Avenue at its intersection with Biddle St. Once the JFX is dismantled, The Fallsway will will remain east of the JFX all the way to Preston St. where it will empty onto the JFX where the highway will continue its normal operations. Another addition above Preston St. will be a ramp to Greenmount Avenue via the current alignment of Belvidere St. This will help local not have to get on the highway and in turn keep the traffic more regional.

Now that the JFX has been completely dismantled, we can begin working on redeveloping and reinvesting in the part of East Baltimore between Downtown and Hopkins. There are many of dead zones that could expand Downtown and make Oldtown Mall a sought after destination. First we will have to look into how other intersections and roads make connections as I have been eluding to throughout this post. Stay Tuned! More in depth looks into those intersections are coming soon.  

    

Dismantling the JFX I: Southbound

There's a large elephant in the room that's keeping development from moving eastbound filling the neglected space between Downtown and Hopkins. That elephant is named the JFX. West of the JFX lies Downtown and Mount Vernon. Both areas are considered the best the City has to offer. East of the JFX lies the struggling Neighborhood of Johnston Square and the vast suburban style surface parking lots owned by Edison Properties.

The plan to demolish the JFX is nothing new but so far it's been all talk. Plans that show a redevelopment plan for areas east of the JFX show an extended Downtown on the Edison lots, a completely revitalized Oldtown Mall and a redeveloped Somerset Homes which was demolished in 2008 but whose site remains barren to this day. This plan shows the JFX demolished however it's shown as a very long term goal of this plan. According to this plan, the other redevelopment plans come first. I would argue that the other redevelopment can't occur until the JFX is demolished and the market for redeveloping the areas east of it can create a demand for themselves. So with that, lets demolish the JFX! This post will focus on the southbound lanes.

First we start at Mount Royal Avenue just east of Calvert St. The southbound lanes on the JFX run parallel to this stretch of Mount Royal Avenue which proves crucial to the beginning of the JFX demolition. Just east of Calvert St., all southbound JFX traffic will merge onto what is now westbound Mount Royal Avenue making for a wider one way eastbound Mount Royal Avenue. At this point, all southbound lanes will travel down Guilford Avenue which will be renamed N. President St. Lane widths will remain the same.

As we continue down Guilford Avenue/President St., many of the signalized intersections Guilford Avenue currently has will be used just like they are now for the JFX. In some cases, existing ramps from the former JFX may play a role as surface level turn lanes on N. President St. N. President St. may narrow as it continues south as some lanes may become turn lanes as well. One intersection change will be that of Eager St. which currently stops and starts up again at either side of the JFX. With the JFX dismantled, Eager St. will continue across the ruins of the JFX to connect to itself.

One casualty of dismantling of the JFX will be the Orleans St. viaduct. With the JFX dismantled and Orleans St. meeting all other north-south cross-streets at surface level, the need for the viaduct is now gone. When meeting Pleasant St./Hillen St./Harford Road/MD.147 President St. will break off from its Guilford Ave. Alignment and will go at surface level at roughly the same location as the JFX but at surface level. Beyond Pleasant St., Guilford Avenue will be renamed South St. which is what the street is named further south. It will also be a state road with the moniker MD. 147. This is the same route number as Harford Road. Why I'm doing this will be explained in a later posts.

Meanwhile N. President St., will continue a few blocks surface level until the JFX currrently ends at Fayette St. After that, President St. will continue as a surface level boulevard going into Historic Jonestown, Little Italy, and Harbor East. like it already does. In order to dismantle the southbound section of the JFX it will take a few existing right of ways but the pieces are there to put it back together as N. President St. Stay tuned for the northbound post.