More Inner Harbor trees cut

New plantings to come

part of Jones Falls trail project

More trees have been cut down in the Inner Harbor - for bikers and hikers this time, not race car fans.

A contractor removed 13 trees last week on Light Street by the  Harborplace pavilion, according to Adrienne Barnes, spokeswoman for the city's Department of Transportation. 

They had to go, Barnes said, to make way for the final leg of the Jones Falls trail, which tracks the stream of the same name from Robert E. Lee Park through the city.  This leg is to extend from Penn Station down the Fallsway and around Light Street to the Visitor's Center by Harborplace.  There, it's to link up with the  Gwynns Falls trail which runs up the western side of Baltimore.

There'll be 21 new Bloodgood London plane trees planted along Harborplace to replace the lost foliage, Barnes said.  The trees removed weren't in great health, she contended.

Some might be skeptical of replanting promises, after the Baltimore Grand Prix failed to make good on its pledge to more than replace the Inner Harbor trees taken down for last year's race. But the city has money to do this. The entire Jones Falls trail project is underwritten with $4 million in federal transportation funds, and the trees and trail should both be in by June 1, according to David Nafisi, the city transportation department project manager.