The Light Street-to-Calvert Street traffic spur may not be closing in November after all.
Even though a high-ranking city planner told members of the Baltimore Tourism Association last week that a curving segment of Light Street will be fenced off to traffic in November, another planning department official said in an email message this week that the closing date is not firm.
Caitlin Audette, Downtown Planner with the Baltimore City Planning Department, told the tourism group on Thursday that the four-lane spur that connects northbound vehicular traffic on Light Street with Calvert Street will be closed permanently as part of a $900 million redevelopment project led by MCB Real Estate and involving the Harborplace pavilions at Pratt and Light streets.
“I believe it’s in November,” Audette said in response to a question. “That’s when all the fences will go up.”
On Monday, a spokesperson for the Planning Department sent an email message to Baltimore Fishbowl indicating that the street closing may not take place in November after all, but it will take place.
“While the project involves closing the Calvert Street spur, no specific date is available at this time,” said Jasmine Johnson, the Communications Specialist and Media Liaison for the planning department. In her message, she put the part about ‘no specific date’ in boldface.
Johnson went on to say in her message that “permits and design plans are still actively under review by the City, including the Maintenance of Traffic plans. Once the plan is finalized, reviewed, and approved, the City will be able to share the temporary and permanent street conditions along with projected timelines for construction.”
New configuration
At present, the traffic spur is a four-lane roadway that separates the two Harborplace pavilions and the Inner Harbor amphitheater from McKeldin Plaza, a one-acre open space created after Baltimore’s McKeldin Fountain was demolished 10 years ago.
Audette’s presentation included a site plan showing a new configuration for the busy intersection of Pratt and Light streets after the traffic spur to Calvert Street is closed. It shows the intersection “squared off” and calls for drivers heading north on Light Street to make a 90-degree right turn eastbound onto Pratt Street and then turn left from Pratt Street if they want to continue heading north.
MCB Real Estate unveiled plans in 2023 to tear down the two Harborplace pavilions and replace them with a mixed-use development containing two apartment towers, offices, shops, restaurants and open space.
The result of closing the traffic spur is that it will make the city-owned McKeldin Plaza property and the street bed associated with the traffic spur part of the parcel that MCB Real Estate will control as part of its development. Incorporating McKeldin Plaza and the street bed, the developers have said, will enable them to increase the amount of open space that’s directly accessible from the Inner Harbor promenade.
Johnson said both the city’s Department of Planning (DOP) and Department of Transportation (DOT) are working on the street closing and preparations leading up to it. She noted that Baltimore’s City Council is required to take action before the street can be closed.
“As part of the legal process of closing a street, a street closure ordinance is also required prior to issuance of the permit to perform the actual closure,” she said. “While the process for this type of street closure is the same as any other, DOP and DOT understand the potential impact of a modified traffic pattern at this location and are making preparations to handle the impact within the parameters of the plans, once approved.”
City Council legislation has not been introduced to authorize the street closure. Once it is introduced, council members will hold a public hearing to consider whether to approve the legislation. The hearing will give members of the general public a chance to testify about the pros and cons of the proposed street closure and its implications for downtown traffic.
The city’s Planning Commission traditionally also holds a hearing to provide guidance to City Council members before they take a final vote on pending legislation involving the public realm. The plan to close the Light Street-to-Calvert Street traffic spur was part of the Downtown RISE Master Plan that the Planning Commission formally reviewed and approved on February 5, and more detailed information was presented as part of that item, Johnson said.
Consultant not named
Mayor Brandon Scott announced that the city will be conducting a downtown traffic study including the intersection of Light and Pratt streets during the annual meeting of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore last fall. He did not outline the scope of the study or say who has been hired to conduct it. A contract for the traffic study has not yet been approved by the city’s spending panel, the Board of Estimates.
Audette said in her talk to the tourism group that the traffic study has been funded and will begin shortly. She said that the study is not a traditional traffic study because it isn’t being conducted to determine whether the city should close the traffic spur.
Instead, she said, this study will build off previous studies conducted by the Harborplace development team and will consider ways that traffic congestion can be mitigated throughout downtown given the changes proposed for the intersection of Pratt and Light streets. Recommendations arising from the study will be made available to the public when it’s complete, she said.
