Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. will continue making “permanent repairs” to its infrastructure under North Charles Street throughout the week and likely through the weekend, keeping downtown roads closed, a spokesperson said Wednesday. The ongoing repairs, which have snarled downtown traffic this week, followed an early Sunday fire that contained in Baltimore’s conduit system and damaged businesses along the 300 block of North Charles Street.
The Sunday blaze, which was still under investigation on Wednesday, followed two other underground fires this year on Charles Street in the core of the city. The underground fire severely damaged Viva Books, which was condemned, and led to other businesses in Brown’s Arcade remaining closed due to a lack of power. owner Quincy Goldsmith said Wednesday that he was “still assessing damage and determining short- and long-term options” for his wine bar and plant shop, which opened earlier this year next door to Viva Books.
Haluk Kantar said guests aren’t coming into his Charles Street restaurants, Cazbar and Homeslyce, which are both located on the 300 block but have remained open. “People think we’re closed,” he said Wednesday. That’s in addition to the road closure and ongoing traffic jam outside.
The commute is “terrible,” Kantar said, noting that the logjam added an extra hour in the morning and about a half hour in the evening — and the road closures require himself, his employees and his patrons to park two b.