The Baltimore City Department of Transportation recently began its Downtown Infrastructure Improvement Project with construction work along Pratt Street. The Downtown Infrastructure Improvement Project is an extension of the Department of Transportation's Operation Orange Cone program. Operation Orange Cone is a citywide effort engineered by the Department of Transportation to improve roadways and infrastructure throughout the city.
The City of Baltimore will be hosting the Grand Prix in 2011. Downtown streets affected by the event and in need of repair will be improved by the City. The City will also be completing other necessary public infrastructure projects at the same time for efficiency purposes. Improvements will be made along Pratt, Light, Conway, Howard, Lee and Russell Streets and construction work is expected to last for nine months.
Construction work is progressing quickly and starting at 5:00 a.m. on Monday, August 9, 2010 full-time double lane closures will be installed on Pratt Street between Greene and Calvert Streets. As construction advances, the locations of the lane closures will move along Pratt Street and motorists should pay close attention to changing traffic patterns.
Motorists who travel along Pratt Street should expect delays and are strongly encouraged to use alternate routes. Commuters coming into the downtown area via Russell Street should consider using I-395 as an alternate route to bypass the construction zone. Motorists driving from the west to the east should use Mulberry Street or Baltimore Street as alternatives to Pratt Street. Parking is restricted along Baltimore Street from Paca to South Streets so that additional lanes of travel will be open for overflow traffic.
Variable messaging signs are placed at strategic locations to alert motorists of the Pratt Street construction, which is expected to last for several months. The Department of Transportation's Special Traffic Enforcement Officers (STEO's) will assist with the movement of traffic in the downtown area.
Please log onto www.BaltimoreCity.gov or www.getarounddowntown.com.
