Baltimore Approves Hopkins Utility Dig on Freshly Repaved Remington Streets

Baltimore gave Johns Hopkins University the green light to cut under Remington streets that were just repaved, approving a utility right-of-way project on April 15 that many neighbors see as a costly do-over. The work will support the university’s Data Science and Artificial Intelligence buildings near 3100 Wyman Park Drive, where new conduit and roadway improvements are planned for the Homewood campus expansion.

Hopkins told the city the underground line is needed to carry power for the institute and terminate at a substation next to the complex. The project is scheduled to begin in May and run through January 2027, with one to three blocks closed at a time, meaning the disruption will stretch well past a quick construction patch. For residents who just watched city crews finish paving, the timing turned a public investment into what feels, to many, like a temporary surface over a long utility trench.

The approval came through the Board of Estimates, the five-member body made up of Mayor Brandon Scott, Council President Zeke Cohen, Comptroller Bill Henry, City Solicitor Ebony Thompson and Public Works Director Matthew Garbark. That structure gave the city a way to clear Hopkins’ request, but it also put elected leaders and top administrators at the center of a familiar Baltimore tension: a powerful institution expands, while a neighborhood absorbs the noise, detours and parking pressure.

Councilwoman Odette Ramos had already framed the project as a bad deal for neighbors, calling it “terrible” in December and saying residents were trying to make it “less bad” because they lacked leverage over an institution that does not pay property taxes. Residents have raised runoff, parking intrusion, trash and transparency concerns, and those objections have only sharpened after Hopkins cut down nine mature Northern Red Oaks on Remington Avenue in January despite protests and a petition with more than 2,000 signatures.

Hopkins says the broader DSAI project is part of a long-term modernization effort meant to meet climate goals, move away from fossil fuels and prepare for higher energy demand. The university has also said the project would create 11,000 jobs and generate nearly $2 billion in economic activity. But the central Baltimore question remains unchanged: if a street is repaved, then dug up almost immediately for a private utility project, who pays for the redo, and why does the neighborhood keep paying twice?