A STREETCAR SYSTEM FOR THE 21st CENTURY:

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Mayor Dixon's transition report identified the proposed reconfiguration of Pratt Street as a way to try to accommodate the regional Red Line on that very visible and high traffic artery. But the winning entry selected by City judges in the Pratt Street design competition very definitely does NOT accommodate regional transit.

The winning Pratt Street design concept (above) is dominated by a very wide boulevard (approximately 100 feet curb to curb) that would have similar traffic characteristics to Downtown Baltimore's other wide boulevards - President, Light, Conway and MLK Boulevard - which are most definitely NOT transit-friendly places.

For the same reasons, none of Downtown Baltimore's boulevards are friendly to pedestrians either. Crossing any hundred foot wide street is an ordeal, and it is especially difficult when traffic is coming at you in all directions. The new Pratt Street concept has been lauded for providing two-way traffic flow, but this is NOT good for pedestrians no matter what some architects and designers say. Making matters worse is the fact that Pratt Street handles heavy turning movement volumes so pedestrians have to look in even more directions to see cars that can potentially mow them down. In order to compensate for such potential chaos, Baltimore's big boulevards generally have very complex and time-consuming traffic signal timing, further exasperating both pedestrians and their potential prey behind the wheel.