State Expands Lead Paint Probe to Second Baltimore Bridge at Orleans Street

The Maryland Department of the Environment has expanded an investigation into paint debris to include the Orleans Street overpass after inspectors documented orange and white paint chips flaking onto Bath Street between Calvert and Guilford avenues and into nearby storm drains. MDE is treating the matter as an active probe of city waterways and linked storm drains, and warned the public to avoid handling suspected paint chips.

MDE inspectors found chips on sidewalks and in and around storm drains under the Orleans Street overpass, and the department said the debris is consistent in appearance with paint chips previously recovered beneath the 28th Street Bridge. Jay Apperson, MDE spokesperson, said, “The department is treating this as an ongoing investigation involving city waterways, including storm drains near the Orleans Street bridge and areas of the Jones Falls.”

The 28th Street Bridge incident remains unresolved. Laboratory testing from the 28th Street site showed at least one paint chip contained lead at a level “36 times over the standard limit.” Photographs taken last Monday by Lloyd Fox show numerous white and orange chips scattered on the ground under the 28th Street Bridge and onto the banks of the Jones Falls and the area beneath the North Baltimore bridge.

Testing of Orleans Street samples has not yet confirmed lead, MDE said, even as inspectors described the chips’ appearance as matching those from the 28th Street site. Jay Apperson urged caution: “People who come across paint chips that could contain lead should avoid handling them and should be sure that children are kept from them.” MDE inspection notices also tell Baltimore City officials the agency could impose penalties for each day violations continue; Apperson did not specify potential fine amounts.

Baltimore City Department of Transportation spokesperson Kathy Dominick told city officials that the 28th Street Bridge is “the only one in the city’s inventory known to have lead paint.” That inventory claim sits alongside MDE field observations at Orleans Street and a broader state-level caveat from the State Highway Administration. SHA spokesperson Danny Allman said SHA “does not maintain a comprehensive record of how many bridges still contain legacy lead-based paint; however, that number continues to decline.”

The lead-paint findings arrive against a backdrop of ongoing local lead-prevention efforts. MDE estimated lead-based paint hazards accounted for 78 percent of potential lead exposure sources in Baltimore City in 2021. Since 2003 health providers in Baltimore City have been required to test children at ages 1 and 2, and the City Department of Housing and Community Development has conducted door-knocking outreach since 2020 to instruct residents in high-risk neighborhoods on identifying lead hazards. Maryland’s Lead Law, enacted in 1994 and revised in 2012, requires landlords of pre-1978 rental properties to perform lead hazard reduction and register certificates with MDE.

Cleanup and long-term repairs tied to the 28th Street Bridge remain unresolved, and MDE said the Orleans Street matter will stay open while samples are analyzed and waterways are monitored. The agency has signaled enforcement is possible if violations continue, and officials have not provided a timetable for remediation or full laboratory results beyond the single chip described as 36 times over the standard limit.