Baltimore — Trolley Proposal

Rail Transit Online, June 2005

A 7.5-mi. (12 km) streetcar loop through downtown Baltimore could help revitalize the central city, according to the Charles Street Development Corp. (CSDC), a not-for-profit business and civic group promoting redevelopment and retail activity along the struggling corridor.  CSDC is conducting a feasibility study on the north-south trolley proposal, which would connect the successful Inner Harbor redevelopment with Johns Hopkins University using a couplet of Charles Street, St. Paul Street and other parallel thoroughfares.  The line would serve numerous tourist attractions, cultural destinations and entertainment venues and would pass through long-neglected neighborhoods that have potential to make a comeback.  The project is in its very early stages and no funding has been identified.  The capital cost could range up to $150 million but would attract both tourists and local residents to the area.   “A developer is not going to get excited about a bus, even a nice bus, coming past a project,” Edward J. Myers of Kittelson & Associates, who developed the trolley analysis, told The Baltimore Sun.