SteveA
02-09-2008, 02:36 AM
Memorial Stadium was somewhat unique in that it was situated right in the middle of a residential neighborhood without any major highways leading directly to it. If there were 40,000 people at a game they probably all took at least 20,000 different routes to get there. Did you have a magic route to beat traffic from wherever you lived, or one that took you directly to your secret parking location?
I'm sure most people coming from the south knew the "secret" that Calvert Street northbound moved a lot faster than Charles. And people who liked to park on the east side of the stadium, or who listened to Chuck Thompson when he said "there's still plenty of parking out at Lake Montebello, come on out and enjoy a whale of a ballgame", knew that the quickest way to the stadium from the Glen Burnie area actually involved going through the Harbor Tunnel and then coming up Erdman Avenue.
Growing up in Howard County, there really isn't a great route into the city from the west. This is how I got to the ballpark, borrowed from a friend who probably got it from his Dad. Memorial Stadium was the first real place outside my own neighborhood that I drove to once I got the freedom of having a drivers' license....
29N to 70
70E until it dead ends at Security Boulevard and a Park 'n' Ride
Get on Security but take a right at the first light (can't remember the name of that street)
Maybe a quarter of a mile, take a right on Windsor Mill Road. This road takes a windy path through a park/woods, past the playground area that eventually got named after Eddie Murray's mother.
After coming out of the park you suddenly hit an intersection where you are forced to turn because Windsor Mill becomes one-way in the other direction and you can't go straight. Veer left and you are on Gwynns Falls Parkway.
Follow that all the way past Mondawmin Mall to Druid Hill Drive past the lake, and you get dumped out on 28th street.
Take 28th to Charles to 33rd...you know the rest.
But that route didn't really work well in reverse, for going home. Going home, I'd head north from the stadium on Greenmount (which quickly turned into York road). Make a left on Cold Spring, go way down a steep hill and get on 83 north for just one exit, get off on Northern Parkway, take that around to Liberty, to the beltway south, back to 70 west. Somehow that way was very good for getting home, it got you away from postgame traffic and onto roads with nobody on them and you could zip home quickly. It didn't work well for going to games though.
What was your secret route tot he ballpark...
I'm sure most people coming from the south knew the "secret" that Calvert Street northbound moved a lot faster than Charles. And people who liked to park on the east side of the stadium, or who listened to Chuck Thompson when he said "there's still plenty of parking out at Lake Montebello, come on out and enjoy a whale of a ballgame", knew that the quickest way to the stadium from the Glen Burnie area actually involved going through the Harbor Tunnel and then coming up Erdman Avenue.
Growing up in Howard County, there really isn't a great route into the city from the west. This is how I got to the ballpark, borrowed from a friend who probably got it from his Dad. Memorial Stadium was the first real place outside my own neighborhood that I drove to once I got the freedom of having a drivers' license....
29N to 70
70E until it dead ends at Security Boulevard and a Park 'n' Ride
Get on Security but take a right at the first light (can't remember the name of that street)
Maybe a quarter of a mile, take a right on Windsor Mill Road. This road takes a windy path through a park/woods, past the playground area that eventually got named after Eddie Murray's mother.
After coming out of the park you suddenly hit an intersection where you are forced to turn because Windsor Mill becomes one-way in the other direction and you can't go straight. Veer left and you are on Gwynns Falls Parkway.
Follow that all the way past Mondawmin Mall to Druid Hill Drive past the lake, and you get dumped out on 28th street.
Take 28th to Charles to 33rd...you know the rest.
But that route didn't really work well in reverse, for going home. Going home, I'd head north from the stadium on Greenmount (which quickly turned into York road). Make a left on Cold Spring, go way down a steep hill and get on 83 north for just one exit, get off on Northern Parkway, take that around to Liberty, to the beltway south, back to 70 west. Somehow that way was very good for getting home, it got you away from postgame traffic and onto roads with nobody on them and you could zip home quickly. It didn't work well for going to games though.
What was your secret route tot he ballpark...