Charles Street

As of 9:45 a.m. Monday, traffic was slow on the outer loop of the Baltimore Beltway at Charles Street, due to an accident involving two vehicles. An accident was slowing traffic on southbound I-95 at White Marsh Boulevard in Baltimore County. There were no major delays reported on Baltimore area transit systems.

Something seemed not quite right the other evening while I stood at a Charles Street bus stop. There were just too many people purposefully moving about on the street at 7:30. Some carried grocery bags. Others were making runs to the wine shop. Some were on bicycles. Flip-flops were the footwear of choice. Charles Street had a steady stream of people — what I've heard called a critical mass, a buzz, a bustle. It was a good experience, but it nevertheless caught me off guard.

As of 9:30 a.m. Friday, traffic was slow on I-83 northbound at Mt. Carmel Road, due to an accident. Accidents were slowing traffic on Loch Raven Boulevard and Providence Road in Baltimore County; Maryland Avenue at 22nd Street in Baltimore; and Route 3 at St. Stephens Church Road in Anne Arundel County. Streets around the Washington Monument in the 600 block of N. Charles St., including a section of Charles Street itself, are closed in preparation for the Baltimore Book Festival, which begins Friday.

Walid Hajj is happy he followed his instincts and bought an incomplete condo redevelopment in Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood last fall. Within three days of advertising the building's 13 newly redeveloped apartments this month, Hajj had rented all but four. And prospective tenants kept on calling to tour the century-old former school on West Chase Street. While the building's previous owner struggled to sell units amid the housing market downturn, the timing was better for Hajj, a partner in a company that bought the property in October.

John Lindner gets right to the point in his review of Lumbini "If you're a fan of Indian buffets and you're anywhere near 322 N. Charles and haven't already discovered Lumbini Restaurant, you owe it to yourself to check out this small, quiet Nepalese/Indian restaurant. " Here's Lindner's review of Lumbini, which is located Downtown on Charles Street.

Chase Brexton Health Services announced Friday that it has purchased the Monumental Life Building on North Charles Street and plans to move a clinic and its headquarters there as part of an expansion. Tracey Gersh, Brexton's chief program officer, said the move will alleviate growing pains felt in the current locations in Mount Vernon. "We're in three different buildings now, so we keep busting at the seams for more room," Gersh said. The current clinic at Cathedral and Eager streets has gotten busier, with 17,000 patient visits last year and a projected 20,000 visits this year.

A parking lot at Charles and Eager streets in midtown Baltimore is being considered for redevelopment as a $3 million retail and office complex. Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation approved preliminary designs this week for the project, known as 1000 North Charles. If completed by late 2012 as planned, it would be the first time in more than 50 years that the prominent site has been anything but a parking lot. Plans by SMG Architects of Baltimore call for the building to rise three stories along Charles Street and two stories along Eager Street, with about 28,000 total square feet of space and an eco-friendly "green roof.

One of these days it would be great if city and county would coordinate street repair. Traffic downtown has been snarled for months, and on Friday much of North Baltimore was in gridlock.   It took me 45 minutes to go from our house, near the corner of Cold Spring Lane and Roland Avenue, to Mount Washington Village.   Earlier in the day, when driving home from swimming laps at Meadowbrook , I had seen northbound Falls Road backed up from Lake Avenue almost to Northern Parkway.

From the Getting There blog: The State Highway Administration will begin about three weeks of overnight closures of the westbound Beltway at Charles Street tonight to let it install structural steel beams for a new bridge. Crews will begin the closures Sunday through Thursday nights at 8 p.m. by taking away a single lane. They will close a second lane at 10 p.m. and the remaining lanes from 11 p.m. through 5 a.m. Traffic will be diverted at Exit 25 to the Charles Street interchange and the roundabout at Charles and Bellona Avenue before rejoining Beltway traffic beyond the bridge area.

Late-night drivers should be forgiven for momentarily thinking they've hit extended rush hour along the Beltway near Charles Street. A little bit of traffic could turn into a big backup with a State Highway Administration project under way that will close westbound Interstate 695 at Charles starting at 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays. Closings and detours to install structural steel beams for a new bridge are expected to last about three weeks. They will be suspended on weekends.