Inner Harbor Plans

The Baltimore Sun reports developer Trey Winstead has proposed a $10 million aerial tram for Baltimore's Inner Harbor, an idea he is also touting for the Ocean City, Md. boardwalk.

Baltimore Harbor has been a major seaport since the 1700s. The Inner Harbor area, however, only really started to blossom as the city's cultural center in the 1970s.

The Inner Harbor now boasts the Maryland Science Center, National Aquarium plus dozens of shops, eateries and other attractions, all in walking distance of more than 20 major hotels and the Baltimore Convention Center. The city continues to review various proposals to further invigorate the area.

The Greater Baltimore Committee proposed a pedestrian bridge to link the north and south shores of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, allowing people to complete a 1.5-mile downtown waterfront loop walk. The bridge design would have pivoting arms (in lieu of a drawbridge) to allow tall vessels to pass through.

The Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC), an organization of more than 500 businesses and NPOs, proposes the addition of an 18,500-seat arena, an expanded convention center connecting to the arena and a new 500-room hotel.

One drawback of the Inner Harbor is folks out for a stroll here run into a dead end. The GBC has proposed a pedestrian bridge to link the north and south shores, allowing people to complete a 1.5-mile downtown waterfront loop walk. The bridge must be tall enough for water taxis and most sailboats to travel underneath. It would also require pivoting arms (as opposed to a drawbridge) that will make way to allow taller vessels to pass through. Footbridges have been constructed to connect some of the finger piers on the Inner Harbor's north shore.

GBC also proposed projecting colors and images onto buildings that frame the harbor, synchronized geysers for the harbor and three concepts for a waterfront park at Rash Field. Designed by Ayers Saint Gross of Baltimore, the Rash Field plans call for beach volleyball courts, a playground and public art installations. One concept envisions a concert band shell at the east end and a large green space in the center, a-la Chicago's Millennium Park and the Pritzker Pavilion.

Almost 90 percent of respondents to the GBC's seven-day-old online survey said they support the idea of building a pedestrian bridge across Baltimore's Inner Harbor as part of any plan to convert Rash Field into a world-class waterfront park.