Maryland Route 139

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MD Route 139
Charles Street Maintained by MDSHA, Baltimore DOT
Length:	7.88 mi[1] (12.68 km)
South end:	US 1 in Baltimore
Major junctions:	MD 134
North end:	I-695 in Towson
Highways in Maryland < MD 138 US 140 > State highways - Minor - Former - Turnpikes

Maryland Route 139 better known as Charles Street runs through Baltimore City and through the Towson area of Baltimore County. On the north end it terminates at Interstate 695 and at the south end it terminates in Federal Hill in Baltimore. Charles Street is one of the major routes through the City of Baltimore.

Though not exactly at the west-east midpoint of the city, Charles Street is considered to be the division between the west and east sides of Baltimore. On any given street that crosses Charles Street, address numbers start from the unit block on either end, and the streets are identified either as West or East, depending on whether they are to the west or east of Charles.

[edit] Points of interest

Charles Street is home to many famous landmarks in the Baltimore area. These include:

Communities:

• Charles Street Shopping District
• Mt. Vernon
• Charles Village
• Homewood campus
• Homeland
• Rodgers Forge

Tourist Attractions:

• Baltimore Inner Harbor (one block away)
• Baltimore Arena
• Washington Monument
• Walters Art Gallery
• Baltimore Museum of Art

Colleges and Universities:

• University of Baltimore
• Johns Hopkins University
• Loyola College
• College of Notre Dame of Maryland
• Though Towson University is not directly located on Charles Street, it can be found nearby.

Hospitals:

• Greater Baltimore Medical Center
• Sheppard Pratt
• St. Joesph Hospital (nearby)
• Union Memorial Hospital (one block away)
• Mercy Hospital - (one block away)

Rail Stations:

• Penn Station
• Penn Station Light Rail Stop
• Charles Center Metro Subway Station

[edit] Public transportation

In Baltimore City, there is plenty of public transportation along Charles Street provided by the Maryland Transit Administration.

Route 11 currently operates along all points on Charles Street between downtown Baltimore and the street's northern terminus. All trips on the line operate along Charles Street as far north as Homeland Avenue, then split into several branches. While some branches operate along the parallel Bellona Avenue through the Rodgers Forge community, others remain on Charles Street. Buses generally operate to points including Rodgers Forge, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Charles Street and the Beltway, and Goucher College.

The Maryland Transit Administration has proposed to modify Route 11 so that all trips follow a single routing to Towson. All buses would operate along Charles to Northern Parkway, then via Northern, Bellona, and would resume on Charles to GBMC. From there, they would operate along Towsontown Boulevard to the Towson Courthouse.

Under this plan, the portions of Charles Street between Northern Parkway and Bellona Avenue, and north of Towsontown Boulevard, which are sparsely developed, would not be served by any public bus lines. There would be only one other branch of the line to the intersection of Roland and Lake Avenues. This plan, which MTA has pushed as an improvement, has been delayed several times by politics.

Charles Street is also served by Route 3 as far north as 33rd Street. Southbound buses on this line operate along St. Paul Street.

[edit] One-way section

Throughout downtown Baltimore, and as far north as 29th Street, Charles Street is one way in a northbound direction. Along this segment, the southbound portion of MD-139 runs one block parallel to the west of Charles Street, and starts out at 29th Street as Maryland Avenue. Over its course, it changes names to Cathedral Street, Liberty Street, Hopkins Place, and Sharp Street.

Motorists can also travel southbound one block east of Charles Street along St. Paul Street, which changes into Light Street in South Baltimore.