Clean Streets, Empty Blocks: Is the "Rising" Downtown an Illusion?

The State of Downtown, according to its boosters, the Downtown Partnership, is always good or rising. To many Baltimoreans it is a rather sad affair, at least since the pandemic. The Downtown Partnership continues to clean and sweep with the uniformed ambassadors which are now a familiar site in many US cities, but for fewer and fewer people. Retail sales are down, hotel and office occupancy occupancy are scary, and whole office towers can be bought for less than a nice condo in New York costs.

The SUN titled their article about the Partnership's Annual Meeting this way: “Failure to adapt prompts shift in properties: $1B commercial crash, residential spike reshape Baltimore tax burden”. 

More than $1 billion in commercial property value has been erased from Baltimore since 2020 (Baltimore SUN, 4/19/26)

Baltimore SUN: Failure to adapt

Truth be told, though, many cities  all around the US are undergoing similar office tower real estate crashes in their downtown, sinking occupancy rates for offices, hotels and due to less foot traffic, for retail as well. Fewer people out and about also means fewer tourist exploring the area, a typical death spiral. “Failure to adapt” is the title line of  the SUN true?

Baltimore has many plans and ideas but no or sluggish implementation. The Urban Land Institute sent an "Advisory Panel" here that included former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy and provided a report and a set of strategies.  Still key parcels remain a problem. The Superblock has not moved forward in early 20 years and is half way burnt down by now. The former Mechanic Theatre property and another site owned by Howard Brown sit fallow for 12 years. State Center has continued to empty out without any new investment there and it took a decade or so to begin refilling the former Social Security complex at Greene Street. The Galleria indoor Mall remains mothballed. Famously, the Baltimore Red Line which should be in service by now, was scrapped and transit continues to ail. 

Meanwhile other cities in the US are tremendously active in steering the ship in new directions.  

Denver has a downtown development authority and a 2025 downtown area plan. The authority just finished an idea competition and its third ULI Advisory Panel about downtown. Its once famed Pavilions downtown mall a three-level, open-air shopping center with a movie theater, a bowling alley, 1,000 total parking spaces and a connection to the 16th Street shuttle and RTD. Only 28 years old, the complex is now considered "failing". Before it had to be fully shuttered, the City bought it and is now in the driver's seat. Instead of giving it to developer without any restrictions (like Baltimore did with HarborPlace), Denver's idea competition and ULI Advisory panel brainstormed a framework that will steer the redevelopment. Maybe to the surprise of the Mayor, the proposed use includes a large open space, i.e. something that doesn't create income in itself. The ideas presented last Friday centered around the creation of a "social district". Mayor Johnston found the proposals "incredibly compelling".

Denver Pavilions (Photo: Philipsen)

As the global urban population skyrockets, with estimates suggesting 70% of the world’s people will live in cities by 2050, the traditional Central Business District (CBD) faces an existential crisis. Once seen as the epicenter of economic and professional life, CBDs—characterized by office towers and commercial real estate—are grappling with diminished relevance, a crisis accelerated by the pandemic. With the advent of remote and hybrid work, fluctuating office occupancy rates, and competition from emerging mixed-use districts, urban cores must evolve or risk becoming relics of a bygone era.

In their place, a new model is gaining traction: the Central Social District (CSD). Unlike CBDs, which primarily focus on commercial real estate, CSDs are designed as vibrant, multi-use hubs that blend work, leisure, culture, and social interaction. These districts cater not only to office workers but also to residents, tourists, and visitors, creating spaces that reflect the modern urban lifestyle’s demands(The Rise of the Social District, Urban Design Lab)

Denver also just completed a complete rebuild of the 16th Street main shopping axis originally designed by Ian Pei. The pedestrian mall is a connection between the government district and the tremendously successful Union Station TOD.

Denver refurbished 16th Street Mall

Atlanta, also a city with an ailing downtown, is well underway with investments that aim to reconnect the isolated CBD.  By covering a small portion of a sunken highway with a park on top and hopes for a surge of affordable housing along both sides the hope is to stitch downtown to the disinvested neighborhood to the northeast. This project has not yet started.

 The construction of a 6 million squarefoot mixed use development over 50 acres of deck over railroad tracks (the Gulch) to revive its ailing southern part of downtown is well underway. This new downtown adjacent area will create a connection to the State Farm Arena and Mercedes Benz stadium. An innovation district next door revives the oldest historic core (SoDo) with 25 projects going on all at once right now. Especially the South Downtown project, funded by a local individual who wants to spur start-ups is based on the ide of a "social district". 

Downtown Baltimore: No enough feet on the ground
(Photo: Philipsen)

Both, Denver and Atlanta are cities with a high growth rates in the core city and the region, both have huge land areas that they gained through annexation. So yes, the comparison is not fair.

Still, there are lessons. Even though Baltimore didn’t build as many freeways as Atlanta, our downtown is also choked by multi-lane high capacity streets that act as freeway substitutes: MLK on the Westside, Pratt and Lombard on the south side and I-83 with President Street on the east. We too, have no lack of ideas, plans and dreams about reconnecting downtown back to the neighborhoods at MLK, at State Center, at Penn Station and the East side. Of all the plans only the connection to the west at the bio park is actually progressing. Improvements to Pratt Street are part of MCB’s lofty HarborPlace plans, but only small amounts of funds are available and it is likely that they will be mostly used to fix the promenade, not to make Pratt Street less of a barrier.

To change the DNA of the old financial district from 9-5 office towers to a 24/7 "social district" neighborhood takes more than stitching across barriers to the surrounding areas and even more than adaptive re-use, more than plans, more than adaptive reuse that has brought several thousand  residents in what used to be just offices, there are still too few feet on the ground. It will even take more than bringing visitors to conventions or events or tourists to see our architectural attractions.

Shelonda Stokes speaking to reporters at the 
State of Downtown Breakfast last week at the 
Convention Center

More than anything, it takes that these various elements of revival work in synergy, that there are clear priorities set and investments are made in a strategic and systematic manner that results in key downtown routes be free of large vacant dilapidated buildings or vacant lots that are dreadful or even scary to pass. Baltimore's new Planning Director and now Housing Commissioner Tim Keane (an architect and formerly the Planning Director of Atlanta) likes to stress design and urban form as a driver for planning. He says, a whole bunch of plans don't make a city unless they all aim for the same well defined objective. (He applied those principles to Atlanta's comprehensive plan).

Downtown Rise is Baltimore’s plan is a case in point of a well intentioned plan that lacks focus or clear priorities or a well defined outcome. The plan is mostly focused on better streetscapes and more what planners came to call “walkability”. This laudable, but the document treats all streets the same, shows trees everywhere and does not delineate the most important pedestrian routes that should be given priority. It also doesn't list which strategic properties are must-do fixes to make downtown look less deserted. The former Mechanic Theater lot right at the heart of downtown and adjacent to a subway stop should be a high priority. 

New financial incentives are available now with the close of the legislative session which gave downtown a tax credit option that is supposed to make investment more lucrative. So, no, the City and the Downtown Partnership are adapting. However, in a City that sees no population growth, all efforts need to be even more targeted and linked. To this end the Partnership is now engaging on a 2026-2031 Strategic Plan.

Not much left of the Superblock
(Photo Philipsen)

Nothing will bring the vitality back that downtowns used to have when the offices were filled and shopping happened here and not in malls or online. The idea of a "Social District" may provide an answer, serving new residents and visitors alike. Entertainment, events and tourists must come to the rescue. The Everyman, the Hippodrome and the Shakespeare Theater are already there, so is the very successful Arena. So far , though, people come for the shows and events and leave right afterwards. Same for the sport stadia. For them to stay downtown needs more than electronic billboards. It needs viable, lively and attractive "third places". The privatization of the HarborPlace "third space" could become exactly the opposite of what is needed.

All improvements have to work seamlessly together. Otis Rolley, the new BDC CEO, is revamping the agency to one that leads instead of reacts. He wants to directly develop the long stalled Superblock. It needs a new identity and focus. Over the Rhine in Cincinnati is a good model.

As Shelonda Stokes of  the Downtown Partnership says in the 2025 report:

Change doesn’t happen all at once. It’s built block by block, partnership by partnership, piece by piece. This belief shapes the theme of this year's annual report — Downtown by Design (Shelonda Stokes)

So here we are, waiting for yet another renaissance, hopefully really driven by design.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Baltimore Transit: Prudent Pragmatism or Bait & Switch?

Recently it became public that MDOT is considering to scale the Red Line back from what was presented to the public as the preferred alternative, Light Rail and would consider either a phased approach with light trail first built on the west side with other phases deferred to later or change the mode from LRT to BRT, short for bus rapid transit. At this point these options are not yet an official position.

Governor Moore announcing the revival of the Red Line in 2023 
(Photo: Philipsen)

The online public debate  is hefty. Is this just a pragmatic step that is inevitable in light of the fact that there is no federal funding and that the cost estimate for a tunneled LRT as envisioned and funded in 2015 has since grown from $3bn to nearly 7bn? 

Or is switching to bus just another another step in the long line of underinvesting in transit in the Baltimore region or worse, a bait and switch by a Governor that should have known all along that the prospect of clawing the federal funds back after the ill conceived cancellation in 2015 was dim at best and who should never have promised its resurrection with the big words he used in West Baltimore on that memorable June 15, in 2023? 

 
It one thing to say that currently we can only afford a bus and we will enhance bus service on the Red Line corridor as a "proof of concept" now with the prospect to build later what we really now and it is another entirely, to say "sorry, your Red Line will now be just a bus". The former option keeps it open to build a really efficient east-west transit line later, especially if the proof of concept is successful, whereas the latter will close the door for a long time. People will say: "Redline? Yep, that's that bus! Let's no longer talk about it."

There are a few footnotes needed to give some more context:

• The proof of concept approach was what Republican Governor Ehrlich and his MDOT Secretary Flanagan did in a way when they introduced the Quickbus 40 which largely ran on the Red Line route but was never completed as envisioned and it was later abandoned. It came back as QuickLink 40 in 2023 and operates today. This is to say, improvements on this service would be easy to do by simply completing what was left off before, namely signal priority, designated bus lanes and improved stations. 
• BRT is a chameleon which operates under many colors. Everyone imagines something different. The concept came from Curitiba (Brazil) and Bogota (Columbia) where the mayors there decided that a fully expedited bus network would be much preferable than one or two expensive subway lines. Those systems were a huge success because they radically changed the way buses operate and look. They used double-articulated (longer) high capacity buses, that were boarded from platforms level with the bus. Riders pre-paid their fare and boarded through all doors. Some buses had doors on both sides so they can also serve center platforms. The buses ran exclusively on their own lanes which were taken away from cars and they have signal priority at all lights. There is no system in the US that has fully implemented all these functions, although some came close. However, the system became popular and has been adopted in Mexico City, in Istanbul and several other cities. 

Cleveland Health Line BRT with center platform and doors on both
sides of the bus (Photo: NACTO)

Transportation for America defines a world-class transit system as one that gets people where they need to go and is accessible, frequent, reliable, and convenient. T4A’s new report identifies 17 global cities that meet that standard. None of them are in the US. (Brian O'Malley, CMTA)

• Some transit experts believe that LRT and bus technology converge in a product that ultimately may look and operate almost indistinguishably. This could be so because both could be battery powered (eliminating the overhead wires), both could use long, multi-articulated low floor bodies similar to the most modern subways and both would be automated and able to run on tight right of ways, i.e. a guided bus with rubber wheels on a smoothly paved lane could run almost as if on tracks. (Todays buses need more maneuvering space than track guided trains). Those vehicles are already in service in some cities in China. 

Rubber tire bus/train in Zhuzhou, China (Interesting Engineering)

This sounds like so much transit geek stuff, but these points make clear why it is hard to imagine a true BRT in Baltimore that is supposed to be cheaper than LRT. Fully designated lanes are pretty much fiction in downtown where parking, deliveries  and right turns compete and interfere with those lanes. Baltimore's blocks are fairly short, longer trains on the surface would interfere significantly with pedestrian, bike and vehicular traffic which is why the original Red Line design chose tunnels for downtown and Fells Point. Running buses in the center is pretty much out for many segments. And as bus riders know, running on curb lanes in Baltimore as today is a bumpy journey in no way as smooth as light rail. 

What about phasing?

Not having the money for an end to end light rail system (so far the officially preferred mode) it makes great sense to phase the system. As Governor Schaefer ("do it now") knew, once you start, you create facts. The original light rail was built in phases and Schaefer also managed to build without federal funds using only State and local funds. Initially he used federal funds only to buy the vehicles, a clever trick that worked beautifully. The idea of building the Red Line from Security Square Mall (destined to be redeveloped as a mixed use TOD) to a preliminary terminus at the redesigned West Baltimore  MARC station using State funds has appeal and would be proof  that Baltimore is serious about serious transit. 

It is widely understood that underperforming public transportation is holding the Baltimore region back economically and socially.

An ambitious, sustained investment in transit by 2050 would improve Maryland’s economy, health, and environment. (Brian O'Malley, CMTA)

 Not that the region doesn't have a pretty robust fleet with some 700 buses, 100 commuter buses, 149 Commuter rail coaches, 40 subway cars (currently being replaced with new ones) and some 20 functional light rail vehicles. But the service area is large, fairly dense and full of congestion; the fleet size too small to maintain a reliable schedule in adverse conditions. The MTA is a political football and the Maryland transportation trust fund also funds all the other transportation modes plus, has to contribute heavily to transit in the DC area. It is time to end the wallflower status and instead of aiming for the lowest common denominator we should do something bold for transit. 

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

See also this commentary in Maryland Matters

The Baltimore Region: Stronger Together at the Pikesville Armory

 A cold rain was driving across expansive Pikesville Armory grounds when regional economic development directors and promoters assembled in the recently renovated Pikesville Armory Foundation headquarters building (the NCO Club) for the All Partner meeting of the Greater Baltimore Committee. 

Economic development panelists Jonathan Sachs, Karen Holt, 
Otis Rolley and Jennifer Jones (Photo: Philipsen)

The 17 acre Armory campus, less than 1/2 mile from the City line, is in the middle of a transformation as a regional arts hub. 

Kathy Klausmeier spoke a few welcoming words, Mark Anthony Thomas CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee as the host elaborated on his economic strategy "All In 2035" which has a strong regional approach and Foundation Director David Ginsburg explained the Armory project. Seawall's Thibault Mannekin who acts as the development partner on the project (his only foray outside the City) shook hands in the back and then disappeared. 

In the packed assembly room sat aligned on bar stools those who are responsible for economic development in their respective jurisdictions: Jonathan Sachs for Baltimore County, Karen Holt for Harford County, Otis Rolley for Baltimore City and Jennifer Jones for Howard County, if one can believe Otis Rolley now no longer competitors but "frenemies" that work together for the good of the region. It would make sense to be less parochial in a region which is clobbered by federal workforce reductions and a federal government that looks a "blue" Maryland with deep suspicion and which is often seen as not particularly business friendly, not as a state in which it is easy to do business.  GBC's All In 2035 tries to create a new narrative. 

Position the people, businesses, and amenities of the Baltimore Region as a globally recognizable and competitive brand. (Goal in All In 2035)

Site Plan of the Armory campus (Website)

"We don't compete with each other but with Silicon Valley or even other countries" was the prevailing view. 

All panelists praised the "new" revamped GBC under Thomas for stepping up to true regionalism, "living up to its name" as Rolley pointed out. Rolley also noted that we really have a dual metro area consisting of the Washington Region and its Baltimore counterpart. the BDC CEO, only since November in his post, also promised a refreshed organization which he thought had become a bit stale. He already almost doubled the staff at BDC to more effectively work on the multiple strategies such as "Baltimore Together" which Mayor Brandon Scott  has set in motion even before Rolley's arrival.  

GBC's Anthony Thomas as moderator
(Photo: Philipsen)

GBC's Thomas, as the moderator, asked his panelists about their biggest accomplishments, obstacles and aspirations and each used the opportunity to advertise the advantages of their jurisdiction. Although they all agreed that the region knows no boundaries, for example, when it comes to transportation as one of the big problems, there was little said in the direction of the region as a whole and how it could become nationally attractive beyond the already well known advantages in Eds and Meds which GBC wants to leverage for start-ups and innovation. Our region's strength in aerospace and defense should become once again a key asset as well. 

The Armory project itself was held up as an example of economic spin-off with its planned event spaces, indoor basket ball courts, Maker Space (a branch of Open Works), arts venues, a theater, senior center, possible restaurant, ballfields, walking paths and green spaces with an ADA compliant playground. 

The estimated $100 million project uses all kinds of funding sources and incentives, including historic tax credits and easements, a $2million matching grant form the Meyerhoff Foundation and public funds. The architect is Ziger Snead with Unknown Studio as the Landscape Architect. 

Armory Foundation's  David Ginsberg (Photo: Philipsen)

Interestingly, the entire project got off the ground not because of lofty government vision plans but because of relentless lobbying of devoted local residents who saw the potential of this property. They traveled far and wide to learn about precedents. The trips taught them that it would be better to own and run the facility as a private non-profit rather than have it run by the County. Instead Baltimore County will lease space for the senior center. The Foundation expects the facility to be self supporting in the end.

The mix of foundations, government officials, private business promoters, residents and individual businesses illustrated well that economic success in a rapidly changing world can only be achieved through collaboration and cooperation. 

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

"We have a people crisis": Marylands Aggressive Pro Housing Legislation 2026

“We’ve done a fantastic job telling people where they can’t build… we never finished the equation.” (Jake Day, Secretary DHCD)

The general understanding that Maryland has a Housing crisis is well supported by a number of studies: Maryland hasn’t built enough housing for years. The state is short roughly 100,000 units today, and needs 590,000 new homes by 2045 to meet projected demand. Lots of people are cost-burdened, the lists of people waiting for housing vouchers or affordable units are endless. 

Housing Director Hickey (Baltimore County) and 
Secretary Day (right) share a word about development 
at a GGW event on Tuesday
(Photo Philipsen)

Relatively new is an understanding that this crisis is not only a problem for those who can't find the right housing for their needs but ripples through all kinds of aspects affecting the well being of the State as a whole. For example, by becoming a fiscal and an economic development problem. This is how it came that Comptroller Brooke Lierman had a study conducted which made big waves in the fall of last year. It showed that for 12 straight years, more Marylanders have left the state than moved in, in an accelerating trend. The study led Secretary Day to state that "we have a people problem" and need to attract a lot more young talent. 

Increasingly, there is a focus on the impediments standing in the way of new housing, namely a patchwork of zoning rules, local veto points, and well‑intentioned but restrictive smart‑growth policies. 

Baltimore County's Lutherville Station development, planned for many years but stalled due to local obstruction, has become an infamous poster-case for how people's fears -combined with current rules- can prevent housing even in most obviously suitable locations, such as Lutherville where several acres of former mall land sit mostly fallow right next to a train station.  (I reported about this case before here and Baltimore County's planning fallacies here). Urban style redevelopment near transit has been an explicit goal of many administrations, even under Governor Hogan. However, there are still plenty of rail stations around which not much happened. This appears to change under the Moore administration which puts previously unseen pressure on the issue. A recent positive development was announced in Friendship Heights for the former 20+ acre Geico campus.

Maryland housing production 2000-2024

Naturally, opposition to relaxing zoning and growth restrictions comes from both, conservatives and progressives, as well as from local government- always keen on maintaining almost exclusive rights to zoning. 

Another Baltimore County development case, the Red Maple development illustrates how hard it sometimes is to agree where more housing is appropriate. Steeped in environmental, historic and equity issues, the centrally located development on a wooded open space in a sensitive area was stalled for many years. After lengthy court battles it had recently begun moving forward but was just now temporarily halted again.

“Affordable housing is really important. Where that housing is is also important.” (State Senator Mary Washington)

Homes for America, the developer, has promised not to disturb the site’s small wetland and will preserve about half of the total land for open space. The development was alleged of causing additional stormwater runoff and adverse environmental impacts. In response the developer will stabilize a hillside, plant additional trees, address existing drainage issues and will build a 100-year flood tank to capture rainwater.

Maryland Housing Secretary Jake Day, Gov. Wes Moore and
Kenneth Naylor with Atlantic Pacific Cos., discuss future development
in the Capitol Heights area near its Metro station.
(Photo by Danielle J. Brown/Maryland Matters)

As Secretary Day puts it in a talk to housing advocates organized by Greater Greater Washington  "Those who want to keep everything as it is are just as motivated as we are. It won't be easy" [to pass all these bills]. But we are "ready to fight for the unpopular" if it is the right thing and "makes Maryland better". The odds are not too bad because this year even the Maryland Association of Counties (MACO) vowed cooperation in solving the housing problem. (Michael Sanderson, executive director for the Maryland Association of Counties says he is trying to find a "middle ground"). 

In Maryland's 2026 legislative session, the Moore-Miller Administration has introduced an aggressive "Housing Growth and Affordability Agenda" focused on increasing supply and reducing regulatory barriers.  The slew of bills under consideration includes these:

Maryland Transit & Housing Opportunity Act (HB 894): Targets Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) by eliminating parking minimums for housing within a quarter-mile of rail transit. It also delays the collection of certain impact fees until construction is complete to improve project feasibility.

Starter and Silver Homes Act of 2026 (HB 239): Aims to expand housing for young families and seniors by preempting local zoning that prohibits smaller, more affordable options. It limits minimum lot sizes to 5,000 square feet and allows townhomes in areas currently zoned only for single-family detached houses. "This bill may impose a mandate on a unit of local government" (Fiscal Note).

Housing Certainty Act of 2026 (HB 548): Establishes "early vesting" rights for developers, ensuring that if local zoning rules change after a permit application is submitted, the original rules still apply to that project. This bill establishes that a housing development project application approval or denial is governed only by laws and regulations in effect when a substantially complete application was submitted, and after approval, the project has a vested right for the longer of five years or a period determined by the local jurisdiction. The bill also prohibits a county or municipality from collecting development impact fees or excise taxes imposed on a residential real estate project until after construction is complete and all requirements for a certificate of occupancy, occupancy permit, or other equivalent have been met.

Bring Back Main Street (HB 1137): Requiring certain counties to allow multifamily developments and mixed-use developments as a permitted use on certain parcels or lots; prohibiting certain counties from imposing certain restrictions, requirements, or limitations on permitted developments; authorizing certain counties to require a permitted development to have a certain percentage of available floor space dedicated to retail uses and to include on-site parking;

Maryland Generational Housing Act of 2026 (HB 1538): A Republican-sponsored bill that would require local laws to authorize at least one internal and one external Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) on certain lands, regardless of existing density limits.

Fair Housing and Housing Discrimination (HB 0573): This bill alters State statute related to housing discrimination to prohibit a person from acting in a manner that has a “discriminatory effect.” Authorizing the Department of Housing and Community Development to adopt certain regulations related to affirmatively furthering fair housing; providing that certain discriminatory housing practices may be committed without intent; prohibiting a person from acting in a certain manner that has a discriminatory effect; and providing that certain conduct necessary to achieve certain nondiscriminatory interests does not constitute a certain violation.

Tenant Protections & Transparency (HB 80): Requires landlords to disclose all mandatory fees to prospective tenants before a lease is signed and prohibits undisclosed fees.

Rights of Unhoused Individuals (HB 104): Prevents law enforcement from ticketing or arresting individuals experiencing homelessness without first offering them available shelter.

Retaliatory Downzoning (HB 1517) protecting certain qualified projects by requiring a local jurisdiction to allow the density of a certain qualified project to exceed the density otherwise authorized; and permitting a certain qualified project to consist of certain types of developments with certain density limits under certain circumstances.

Two other housing related bills are HB 774 (Good Cause Eviction), and HB 778 (Middle Housing Options).

A discussion of the housing crisis including positions of Secretary Day, Comptroller Brooke Lierman, Preservation MD CEO Nicolas Redding and Land Use lawyer Tom Coale can be heard on this Maryland Now podcast.

The path forward should not consist in throwing out protective measures in general but in removing restrictions in areas where housing development should happen, for example near transit or in highly walkable population centers. Innovation and creativity are urgently needed in design, production and policy to address the combined housing, economic development, climate and sustainability crisis. As much as immediate action is needed, it is also necessary to maintain the long view including our natural environment, the demographics of an aging population and the shifting ways how we work. 

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Related: Zoning reform bills in Baltimore City: Housing Regulations to be Relaxed in Baltimore City

See also Tom Coale's paper: How to Streamline Maryland's Housing Permitting

Baltimore County to City Trail: After 54 Years Follow the Plans!

How can an idea born back in 1973 by a wealthy Baltimore "housewife (SUN) that garnered popular support then and eventually found its way into official plans of Baltimore City 2006 and again in 2015 still not be a reality in 2026? Welcome to a world were plans far exceed realizations. 

The simple idea: Take the abandoned right of way of the old Catonsville Short Line tracks and use it for a bike and hike trail connecting Baltimore County's westside to the existing Gwynn Falls trail in the city. This very concept with an extension to the Gwynn's Falls trail was shown in the 2007 and 2015 bike and trail masterplans. 

At a fork in the track:
Where will the Short Line trail go?
(Photo: Philipsen)

However, half a century later, the matter has become ever more complicated. An abundance of obstacles raised their head, from the widened beltway that claimed the old rail bridge crossing in 1985, to the private Loudon cemetery placing grave sites on the right of way, a senior living compound placing its fence in it, to the MTA that wants to revive the Claremont Branch for trains. It is part of the trail alignment and vital to the connection to the existing Gwynns Falls Trail. 

MTA wants to be able to switch trains between the MARC Penn Line and the MARC Camden Line (PCC). The nearly $233 million estimated total cost MTA project is currently in its concept stage ("30% engineering"), which also involves public participation.

A dedicated group of volunteers, the Catonsville Rails to Trails (CRTT) had moved heaven and earth to get the two segments of the CSL right of way (ROW) already converted to a trail, both in in Baltimore County and built with support of the community, businesses, and Baltimore County Rec & Parks. The Catonsville group previously had realized a popular Catonsville trail to Ellicott City on the former streetcar right of way of the No. 8 Catonsville - Towson line.
CRTT is optimistic about funding a new beltway crossing and has funded moving hundreds of feet of Charlestown Retirement community fencing to continue the trail beyond its current eastern end at the Baltimore National Cemetery to join the newest section of the trail at S. Beechfield Ave.

A new City led initiative that would become the Catonsville to Baltimore Greenway Coalition (CBGC), was formed in 2023 to advocate for a trail that would connect the Catonsville Short Line Trail to the Gwynns Falls Trails. The national Rails to Trails Conservancy organization and the Baltimore active transportation advocacy group Bikemore helped leaders from the Gwynns Falls Community Association, Irvington, and Beechfield organize a new group that meets bi-monthly at St. Agnes Hospital.

CBGC believes they can negotiate their way around the graves because their legality is in dispute and get Amtrak to allow use of an existing but currently unused underpass under Amtrak's four track Northeast Corridor running along Loudon cemetery as part of the Douglass Tunnel community benefits agreements. (Amtrak also wants to build a drainage culvert near the underpass). CBGC has the support of adjacent community organizations and stakeholders such as St Agnes Hospital. 

Delegates Ruth and Ebersole hiked for 2.5 hours to see the alignment and so did a number of Baltimore City council members and a representative of Congressman Olszewski's office.

The first segment of the trail in Baltimore City
in a temporary state of improvement (Photo: Philipsen)

underpass). 

In spite of all the support, so far trail promoters are biting their teeth out on the portion of the trail that is called the Claremont Branch, another abandoned railroad south of the Amtrak corridor. MTA is resisting considering a rail connection that could run parallel to a bike-hike trail. MTA envisions that one day they may want to have passenger service on the connector, and appears to plan for electric power lines (catenary), maximal safety distances, sound barriers and fencing, in all demanding more space than is available.

The trail advocates launched a campaign to send messages to MTA in support of a combined use as it was done, for example, at MTA's Purple Line in the DC area and a scaled down arrangement that possibly would still meet requirements of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) using examples of the FRA guidebook of best practices.

Bicycle and pedestrian trails are popular, especially those which are separated from roads and use abandoned railroad ROWs which are never very steep and often elegantly traverse barriers such as streams and roads in grade separated underpasses or bridges, thus being able to go over longer distances without too many barriers or dangerous crossings. Such trails are suitable for commuting to work, recreational use and safe enough for families with children to use whether for walking, hiking or biking. The most popular trail of this kind in our area is probably the Northern Central Railway (NCR) Trail, stretching north for about 40 miles from Ashland into PA for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. 

Catonsville to Baltimore Greenway and phasing 

In older post industrial environments like ours those abandoned railroads are ubiquitous and often forgotten opportunities to expand and connect a trail network. 

However, these forgotten old rail lines also represent good opportunities for expanding freight rail and rail transit services also much in demand in the region; a preprogrammed conflict that can only be resolved with mutual concessions. There is no doubt that the proposed rail Connector will be very beneficial for MARC operations which currently rely on storing trains at Union Station with very restricted possibilities for dispatch and daily inspections. But there is also no doubt that it will bring noise and access impacts to disadvantages communities along the  ROW, rising the specter of community benefits of which the trail and access to green spaces could be one.

In the case of the Penn Camden Connector, with some good will and additional funds it shouldn't be too hard to accommodate a trail alongside trains that operate only occasionally in non-revenue service mode and given the short distance could do so slowly and safely. 

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

 Penn-Camden Connector overview (MTA)

1973 SUN article about the Catonsville Short Line as a trail

How the Penn Camden Connector would tie in with the NEC tracks

Pinchpoint: bridges over Wilkens and Caton Ave (Photo: Philipsen)

Section showing train next to trail (Rails and Trails DOT)