(October 27, 2010) Walk along Baltimore’s historic Charles Street – and you amble along a pathway that provides a landscape of urban America in Miniature. The road carves a path around the finest stores, restaurants, offices, institutions and homes telling the story of urban innovation in city planning, architecture, education, and philanthropy. Long the Main Street of the City of Baltimore and Baltimore County, the National Scenic Byway Program has placed Charles Street between downtown Baltimore and Towson on the national stage, designating it as a National Scenic Byway, one of only four urban byways in the nation.
Secretary of Transportation Beverley Swaim-Staley joined County Executive Jim Smith, original Charles Street planners and community groups to present a Governor’s Proclamation and unveil the new national byway sign. “Charles Street’s national designation honors the partnership between the State, the County and the City of Baltimore in enhancing the quality of life and pride in local communities,” said Secretary Swaim-Staley. “Roads like Charles Street that wind their way through our state appeal to the senses and allow us to capture the sights, sounds and smells that make Maryland so unique.”
Charles Street joins three other new nationally designated byways in Maryland:
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The Religious Freedom Highway, a 195-mile route in Southern Maryland that features some of the nation’s oldest churches and historic St. Mary’s City;
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The Journey through Hallowed Ground; a 179-mile route that travels through three states (Pennsylvania, Virginia and Western Maryland); and
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The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway; a 125-mile route along the Eastern Shore.
The National Scenic Byways Program is a grass-roots collaborative effort established to help recognize, preserve and enhance selected roads throughout the United States and is part of the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Since its establishment in 1992, the program has provided about $388 million in funding for 2,832 state and nationally designated byway projects in 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. The designations are based on one or more archaeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational and scenic intrinsic qualities. They market the collection of distinct and diverse roads as America's Byways. There are only four URBAN national scenic byways: Charles Street, Las Vegas Strip, Woodward Avenue in Detroit, and Grand Rounds Scenic Byway in Minneapolis.
Previously designated National Scenic Byways in Maryland include the Historic National Road and Chesapeake Country, both designated in 1999.
The Maryland Byways Program provides local communities an opportunity to attract more visitors to Maryland. The economic benefit supports historic preservation and conservation, community revitalization, and the creation of new jobs and businesses. SHA’s Office of Environmental Design, Landscape Architecture Division administers Maryland’s program which began in 1988. The original Scenic Routes map defined 600 miles of scenic routes that were identified by now familiar trailblazer signs. Today there are 2,487 miles of scenic byway roads in Maryland. Learn more at
www.roads.maryland.gov.
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