Howard Street (Baltimore)

Howard Street

Light rail lines along North Howard Street at West Lexington Street
Owner	City of Baltimore
Location	Baltimore
Postal code	21201, 21218, 21230
North end	Artmuseum Drive and 29th Street
South end	Cal Ripken Way (I-395) and Conway Street

Howard Street is a major north-south street through the central part of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. About 2½ miles long, the street begins at the north end of I-395 near Oriole Park at Camden Yards and ends near Johns Hopkins University, where it splits. To the right, it becomes Artmuseum Drive, the one-block home of the Baltimore Museum of Art. To the left, it becomes San Martin Drive, which winds road along the western perimeter of the Johns Hopkins University campus and ends at University Parkway. Howard Street is named in honor of former Maryland governor John Eager Howard. Two other streets in Baltimore, John and Eager Streets, are also named after him.

At one time, Howard Street was a two-way street throughout its entire route. In 1989, when construction began on the Central Light Rail line, Howard Street was made one-way in a northbound direction between Pratt Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard; as such, southbound traffic now uses Eutaw Street, one block to the west. The Light Rail operates along Howard Street within this area, which is most of Downtown Baltimore, and alongside Howard Street for much of the remainder of the street's route within the downtown area.

Notable landmarks on or near Howard Street include:

In the downtown area, a tunnel owned by CSX Transportation runs below Howard Street. This tunnel was first proposed in the 1880s and built in the 1890s as part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.