Maryland Route 139
Charles Street
Route information
Maintained byMDSHA andBaltimore DOT
Length	10.9 mi[1] (17.5 km) MD 139 is 7.89 mi (12.70 km).[2][3] The unnumbered portion of Charles Street south ofUS 1 is 3.0 mi (4.8 km).[1]
Existed	1927–present
Tourist routes	Baltimore's Historic Charles Street
Major junctions
South end	Dead end near Wells Street inBaltimore
Major intersections	MD 2 in Baltimore US 40 in Baltimore I-83 in Baltimore US 1 /US 40 Truck in Baltimore MD 134 inTowson I-695 inLutherville
North end	Nightlingale Way in Lutherville
Location
Country	United States
State	Maryland
Counties	City of Baltimore,Baltimore
Highway system
Maryland highway system Interstate US State Scenic Byways
←MD 138 →MD 140

Charles Street, known for most of its route asMaryland Route 139 (MD 139), runs throughBaltimore and theTowson area ofBaltimore County. On the north end, it terminates at an intersection withBellona Avenue nearInterstate 695 (I-695). At the south end, it terminates inFederal Hill in Baltimore. Charles Street is one of the major routes through Baltimore, and is a major public transportation corridor. For theone-way portions of Charles Street, the street is functionally complemented by the parallelSt. Paul Street, including St. Paul Place and Preston Gardens, Maryland Avenue, Cathedral Street, and Liberty Street.

Though not exactly at the west–east midpoint of the city, Charles Street is the dividing line between the west and east sides of Baltimore. On any street that crosses Charles Street, address numbers start from theunit block on either side, and the streets areidentified as either "West" or "East," depending on whether they are to the west or east of Charles.^[4]

The west and east designations also apply to streets that do not cross Charles Street, but exist on both sides of it. The entire length of Charles Street is aNational Scenic Byway known asBaltimore's Historic Charles Street.^[5][6]

MD 139 begins atUS 1/US 40 Truck in Baltimore (better known asNorth Avenue). MD 139 follows Charles Street northbound; the southbound lanes of MD 139 are carried by Saint Paul Street. Charles Street is a part of theNational Highway System fromPratt Street to its northern terminus in Lutherville, which includes the entire length of MD 139.^[3][7]

Charles Street begins at a dead end one block south of Wells Street in the South Baltimore neighborhood of Baltimore. The terminus is immediately to the north ofCSX's Locust Point Branch of theBaltimore Terminal Subdivision railroad line andI-95 and two blocks to the west of the historicNational Enameling and Stamping Company factory complex. Charles Street heads north as a two-lane undivided street through residential South Baltimore. The street becomes commercial as it passes between theFederal Hill and Sharp Leadenhall neighborhoods. Federal Hill contains theHoly Cross Roman Catholic Church on West Street and theCross Street Market on the eponymous street. Sharp Leadenhall contains theLittle Montgomery Street Historic District. At the north end of the two neighborhoods, Charles Street intersectsMD 2, which follows Montgomery Street east and Hughes Street west on its two-block transfer from Hanover Street, which the route follows south toward theHanover Street Bridge over thePatapsco River, to Light Street at the southwest corner of the Inner Harbor. Charles Street enters theOtterbein neighborhood, where it becomes one-way northbound at Lee Street. At the northern end of the neighborhood, Charles Street intersects Conway Street, a four-block boulevard that passes theOtterbein Church and connects Light Street at the Inner Harbor withI-395 and Howard Street just east of theBaltimore & Ohio Warehouse at Camden Yards andOriole Park at Camden Yards, home toMajor League Baseball'sBaltimore Orioles.^[1]

Charles Street continues north as a three-lane street through the Inner Harbor neighborhood on the south side ofdowntown Baltimore. The street passes to the east of theBaltimore Convention Center and intersects the two main streets of the Inner Harbor area, eastbound Pratt Street and westbound Lombard Street, between which is theTransamerica Tower (formerly the Legg Mason Building). Charles Street passes to the west of theM&T Bank Building andBank of America Building before reaching the center of the city's address system at Baltimore Street. The street passes to the east ofCharles Center and theCharles Center station ofMTA Maryland'sBaltimore Metro SubwayLink. Charles Street continues north into theCathedral Hill Historic District, where the street passesSt. Paul's Episcopal Church at Saratoga Street, theWoman's Industrial Exchange andBrown's Arcade at Pleasant Street, theBaltimore Basilica at Mulberry Street, and theBenson Building andFirst Unitarian Church of Baltimore at Franklin Street. Mulberry and Franklin streets carryUS 40 eastbound and westbound, respectively.^[1]

Charles Street enters theMount Vernon neighborhood at Centre Street, which contains theWalters Art Museum andContemporary Museum Baltimore to the west. The street splits into a pair of two-lane roadways separated by park squares known as Washington Place. South of the east–west portion of the park, Charles Street passes the equestrianLafayette Monument within the park and thePeabody Institute on the east and theWalters Art Museum on the west. The street meets the westbound and eastbound halves of Mount Vernon Place, (also East and West Monument Street) which flank the east–west segment of the part, at a traffic circle that surrounds theWashington Monument. The eastern leg of the park contains theGeorge Peabody Sculpture and one ofSevern Teackle Wallis facingSt. Paul Street to the east. The bifurcated Charles Street continues past theRoger B. Taney Sculpture in the northern square of the park,Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church and Asbury House to the east, andThe Stafford Apartments to the west and the equestrian statue of Col.John Eager Howard facing north towards Madison Street. The two halves of Charles Street converge as a three-lane street at Madison Street.^[1]

Charles Street continues through midtown Baltimore, which contains theBelvedere Hotel andseveral historic rowhouses on adjacent Chase Street. The street passes along the east side of theUniversity of Baltimore andUniversity of Baltimore School of Law before meetingI-83 (Jones Falls Expressway) at the northern end of the neighborhood. The partial interchange with I-83 features ramps from southbound I-83 to Maryland Avenue one block to the west and to Charles Street itself, and an entrance ramp from Charles Street to northbound I-83. Immediately to the east of the I-83 overpass isPennsylvania Station, the main train station of Baltimore that has intercity service onAmtrak, commuter service onMARC'sPenn Line, and light rail service on the Penn Station spur of MTA Maryland'sBaltimore Light RailLink. Charles Street crosses over several tracks of Amtrak'sNortheast Corridor railroad line and enters the Charles North neighborhood. Between Lanvale and Lafayette streets, which form the east and west components ofMD 25 (which becomes Falls Road), the street passes theCharles Theatre and theBaltimore City Passenger Railway Power House and Car Barn. Charles Street continues one more block as an unnumbered highway before reaching the southern terminus of MD 139 at North Avenue, which carries US 1 and US 40 Truck.^[1]

Charles Street continues as northbound MD 139 through the Charles North neighborhood, where the street passes theOld Goucher College Buildings. The street is paralleled by Maryland Avenue to the west and St. Paul Street to the east, the latter being southbound MD 139. Charles Street continues intoCharles Village. At 29th Street, Maryland Avenue merges into Charles Street, which becomes adivided boulevard that contains three lanes northbound and one lane southbound. St. Paul Street, which serves as the main commercial street of the neighborhood, becomes two lanes southbound and one lane northbound at 31st Street and passesUnion Memorial Hospital. The boulevard passes between the main part of Charles Village and auxiliary Johns Hopkins University buildings to the east and theBaltimore Museum of Art and theHomewood Campus of Johns Hopkins University, and the campus'sHomewood Museum to the west. North of 33rd Street, Charles and St. Paul streets enter theHomewood neighborhood, where they each have oblique intersections with University Parkway, which leads northwest to theFirst Church of Christ, Scientist and theLacrosse Museum and National Hall of Fame at the northern end of the Hopkins campus.^[1][2]

Charles Street and St. Paul Street continue north as two-way, four-lane streets through the well wooded residential neighborhoods ofTuscany-Canterbury to the west of Charles Street andGuilford to the east. North of theHighfield House Condominium, Charles Street splits, with southbound traffic using Charles Street proper, which passes theCalvert School, and northbound traffic continuing straight on Charlcote Road, which intersects St. Paul Street, which had curved to the east and veered back northwest within the Guilford neighborhood. Both directions of MD 139 follow St. Paul Street to its northern end at Charles Street and Overhill Road. Two blocks north of the junction, four-lane undivided Charles Street intersectsCold Spring Lane. The street continues through the campus ofLoyola University Maryland; the two sides of the campus are connected by a pedestrian bridge. Charles Street passes theEvergreen Museum & Library before passing between the Blytheville neighborhood to the west andNotre Dame of Maryland University (formerly College of Notre Dame of Maryland, or CONDOM). Charles Street continues north betweenHomeland andWyndhurst, the latter the home of theFriends School of Baltimore and theCathedral of Mary Our Queen. The street intersectsNorthern Parkway and Lake Avenue, which leads to theBoys' Latin School of Maryland, and passes between two more neighborhoods,The Orchards to the west andBellona-Gittings to the east, before leaving Baltimore and entering Baltimore County.^[1][2]

North of Elkridge Hunt Club, whose golf course lies to the west, Charles Street passes through the hamlet of Woodbrook, within which lies the historic homeTyrconnell onLake Roland to the west. At Bellona Avenue, which heads northwest asMD 134, Charles Street becomes a four-lane divided highway that passes through anS-curve within a forested area. The highway passes to the west ofGreater Baltimore Medical Center andThe Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, then intersects Towsontown Boulevard, which leads to the old alignment of Charles Street, Charles Street Avenue, and both Towson University and the center of Towson. Charles Street veers northwest past theLoyola Blakefield school and north again to the top of a ridge where the highway passes underJoppa Road. That road is accessed at the following intersection with Bellona Road, which heads west and then south towardRiderwood and Ruxton, and Kenilworth Drive, which heads east toward the center of Towson. Charles Street has apartial cloverleaf interchange with I-695 (Baltimore Beltway) before meeting a disjoint segment of Bellona Avenue at an intersection with traffic lights (for the better part of a decade traffic was managed by aroundabout) on the southern edge of Lutherville.^[8] Bellona Avenue heads west toward a ramp to westbound I-695 and east to receive an exit ramp from westbound I-695 and intersectMD 131 (Seminary Avenue) within theLutherville Historic District. Although MD 139 ends at the intersection, Charles Street continues north one block as a residential street to its northern terminus, where the road heads west into an apartment complex as Nightingale Way.^[1][3]

When Charles Street was first laid out in theTown of Baltimore in 1730, it was originally known asForest (orForrest) Street.^[9][10] The southern end was at the present dayLombard Street at what was calledUhler's Spring Branch.^[11] The road was being referred to as Charles Street by at least 1761.^[10] In 1858, theJones Falls flooded and overflowed. The bridge along Charles Street (near present-day Penn Station) was swept away.^[11]

The first portion of what was known as Charles Street Avenue to be paved in Baltimore County was west of the center of Towson, from Chesapeake Avenue north to Joppa Road, by 1915.^[12][13] The remainder of the highway in Baltimore County was paved in 1928 and marked as MD 139 by 1933.^[14] By 1934, traffic levels were high enough on the highway that theMaryland State Roads Commission recommended widening the road in Baltimore County from 14 to 20 feet (4.3 to 6.1 m) to 30 feet (9.1 m) in width.^[15] Within Baltimore, MD 139 was split into a one-way pair between North Avenue and 29th Street, with northbound following Charles Street and southbound using Maryland Avenue, by 1950.^[16]

In 1954, a project began to widen MD 139 from the Baltimore city line north to MD 134.^[17] In addition, preliminary work began at the site of the highway's future interchange with I-695 that year and actual construction began in 1955.^[17][18] Starting in 1956, MD 139 was expanded to a four-lane divided highway from MD 134 to the modern intersection with Towsontown Boulevard and relocated as a four-lane divided highway from there to the Beltway interchange.^[19] Construction was completed from the Beltway interchange south to Joppa Road and from MD 134 to Towsontown Boulevard in 1957.^[20] The relocation project, including Joppa Road's bridge over MD 139, was completed in 1958.^[19][21][22] The bypass was marked as MD 139 by 1959 and the old segment of Charles Street Avenue was transferred to county maintenance by 1961.^[23][24] In 1963, the southbound direction of the state highway was assigned to St. Paul Street from North Avenue to the street's northern end at Charles Street; the street was a two-way divided boulevard north of 33rd Street.^[25]

The intersection with Bellona Avenue at the state highway's northern terminus in Lutherville was replaced with a roundabout in 1999.^[26][27] This roundabout was later removed and replaced with a standard intersection as part of reconstruction of MD 139 and I-695 around their interchange that started in 2008.^[28]

This table only includes details for the portion of Charles Street designated MD 139.

County	Location	mi [2][3]	km	Destinations	Notes
Baltimore City				Charles Street continues south as an unnumbered city street throughDowntown Baltimore for 3.0 miles (4.8 km) toward the street's southern terminus at a dead end near Wells Street.[1]
		0.00	0.00	US 1 /US 40 Truck (North Avenue)	Southern terminus
		1.50	2.41	University Parkway
		2.48	3.99	Cold Spring Lane
		3.62	5.83	Northern Parkway
Baltimore	Towson	5.04	8.11	MD 134 north (Bellona Avenue) / Bellona Avenue south	Southern terminus of MD 134
	Lutherville	7.80	12.55	I-695 (Baltimore Beltway) toI-83 –York, PA,Pikesville,Baltimore,Essex	I-695 Exit 25
		7.89	12.70	Bellona Avenue / Charles Street north	Northern terminus;intersection; Bellona Avenue is unsigned MD 139A (east)
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

MD 139 has one current and one former auxiliary route in Lutherville. Both routes were designated in 2004 as notational upgrades to what were previously classified as ramps.^[29]

• MD 139A is the designation for the 0.07-mile (0.11 km) section of Bellona Avenue from the northern terminus of MD 139 east to the exit ramp from westbound I-695.^[3][30]
• MD 139B was the designation for the 0.13-mile (0.21 km) section of Bellona Avenue from the northern terminus of MD 139 west to the entrance ramp to westbound I-695.^[31][32] The route was decommissioned in 2012 following the transfer of the road to county maintenance.^[33]

• Maryland Roads portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related toCharles Street, Baltimore.

• Historic Charles Street Association (HCSA)
• Charles Street Development Corporation (CSDC)
• MDRoads: MD 139
• MD 139 at AARoads.com
• Maryland Roads - MD 139
• National Scenic Byways Program: Baltimore's Historic Charles Street
• National Heritage Area - Charles Street Byway Management Plan, Office of the Mayor of the City of Baltimore

• Streets in Baltimore
• Roads in Baltimore
• Roads in Baltimore County, Maryland
• National Scenic Byways

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