9. TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT PROJECT AT STATE CENTER AT PRESTON & EUTAW STS. (BALTIMORE CITY)—The 28-acre State Center complex is the largest concentration of state-government offices in Maryland. State Center is now the focus of a cooperative effort between the state of Maryland and the city of Baltimore to revitalize the state’s office complex and the surrounding communities through extensive redevelopment and the application of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) practices. The ultimate goal of the $1.4-billion project is to connect and integrate the state’s office complex with the surrounding neighborhoods.
10. WESTERN MARYLAND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TOURISM PROJECT: GREAT ALLEGHENY PASSAGE TRAIL & TRAIL TOWN INITIATIVE—The Great Allegheny Passage is a 150-mile system of biking and hiking trails that will connect Cumberland and Pittsburgh when completed. In 2006, the southern end of the trail was completed, making the connection at Cumberland to the C&O Canal towpath. This created a continuous trail experience, 320 miles long, from Duquesne, near Pittsburgh, to Washington, DC. The final few miles from Duquesne to Pittsburgh are still under construction. The Trail Town Program envisions a corridor of revitalized trailside communities along the Great Allegheny Passage that reaps the economic benefits of trail-based tourism and recreation as part of a larger, coordinated approach to regional economic development. Additional information can be found at HYPERLINK "http://www.trailtowns.org" www.trailtowns.org.
11. MAJOR REDEVOPMENT IN WESTPORT (BALTIMORE CITY)—Currently under development, the Westport, Middle Branch, and “Green Harbor” Project is a 52-acre transit-oriented mixed-use development located on Baltimore’s Middle Branch of the Patapsco River. The area is being transformed from a former industrial-zoned brownfield of old factories, smokestacks, and power plants into a living shoreline which will include 2 million square feet of office space, 2,000 residential units, 300,000 square feet of retail space, and 500 hotel rooms, as well as a waterfront esplanade, pedestrian and bike trails, a waterfront park, urban plazas, and two piers. The project is in South Baltimore, about a mile from the Inner Harbor. Estimated cost: $1.2 billion.
12. (YET ANOTHER) CHESAPEAKE BAY CLEAN-UP INITIATIVE—Can we really Save the Bay? The Environmental Protection Agency announced this year ambitious plans to purify 60 percent of the Chesapeake Bay’s waters in 15 years, combining federal resources with a mandate that says states in the 64,000-square-mile watershed (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, New York, and the District) must develop a regulatory blueprint. According to published reports, 300,000 pounds of pollution flow into the bay each day. That flow needs to be reduced to approximately 175,000 pounds per day to increase water clarity and stimulate the growth of aquatic life. The EPA says that if the restrictions they propose are put into place in the next few years, 60 percent of the bay area would reach water-quality goals by 2025.
List compiled by Ross Peddicord
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