Inner Harbor Plans and Opportunities

     This Inner Harbor 2.1 plan is both a response to the recently proposed Inner Harbor 2.0 plan and an effort to continue earlier planning concepts that produced Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, a model redevelopment of an urban waterfront.  While  certain portions of the Inner Harbor are showing signs of poor maintenance, many of the original Inner Harbor concepts are valid and should be retained in current planning efforts. 

     As the above plan view illustrates, the original Inner Harbor plan extended the north shore of the harbor below Pratt Street creating development opportunities along the waterfront.  The plan included extending Pier 6 beyond its present boundaries.  It also planned for active recreational opportunities along the south shore.

The recently released Inner Harbor 2.0 plan integrates green infrastructure throughout the area in support of the Healthy Harbor initiative.  It includes living shorelines and the establishment of native plant communities that provide storm water management. 

     The 2.0 plan also calls for a pedestrian bridge that connects Rash Field to Pier 5 completing the circuit of the Waterfront Promenade and providing a  more direct connection between Inner Harbor East and Locust Point.

Another plan highlight would eliminate the diagonal traffic connection from Light Street to Calvert Street with a redesigned McKeldin Square connected directly to the  Harbor Place amphitheater.

     Yet the plan has also been subject to criticism for eliminating beach volley ball courts, relocating the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse, utilizing the historic  US Coast Guard Cutter Taney as a screen for a parking/loading area on the  east side of Pier 4 and expanding an existing parking garage along the waterfront, an incompatible use of a unique resource.

    While the Inner Harbor 2.0 plan calls for better connections to surrounding neighborhoods and new destinations to activate underutilized areas,  the delivery of such resources is up for debate.