Yesterday I had the opportunity to revisit the Blue Ball project of U.S. 202 north of Wilmington, DE. I thought that most of the U.S. 202 work was completed by May, but much to my surprise, a few more things were tweaked road and signwise.
Now travelers heading north from Wilmington via Concord Avenue (Delaware 202) remain separated from merging traffic from Interstate 95 until after the Foulk Road (new Delaware 141 and Delaware 261) off-ramp. Additionally the Augustine Cutoff intersection is limited to just two movements now, from Delaware 202 north to it and from it to U.S. 202 south. These projects precede work at the Interstate 95 interchange that will eliminate the southbound loop ramp to Delaware 202 by adding a left-hand movement from the northbound ramp to Concord Avenue south. Work on the ramp conversion is already underway.
New overheads are up along the U.S. 202 northbound off-ramp from Interstate 95, including a set of diagrammatic signs for the Foulk Road off-ramp. Additionally the one-lane directional ramp from northbound now widens to two lanes before joining Concord Pike, a new change from the original design.
Southbound overheads were completely replaced now and unfortunately omit U.S. 202 southbound’s merge onto Interstate 95 south. Signs just indicate Interstate 95 south, and a token U.S. 202 south arrow shield lies just ahead of the ramp. If U.S. 202’s merge with Interstate 95 is being downplayed, why not truncate it back to this interchange or to the U.S. 13 Business intersection at Market Street?
I checked just south of the Interstate 95 southbound off-ramp and the end U.S. 202/begin Delaware 202 assembly is still there. Which leads me to my next observation, the pull-through panels along Concord Pike south that now simply display “Wilmington”. No mention of Delaware 202 or Concord Avenue, just the control city. This is sort of a disservice to area motorists who may be destined to downtown or other parts of the city, yet the sign does not indicate anything other than the city. Concord Avenue does provide a way to downtown via Baynard Boulevard, but it is not a commercial route and if you are not familiar with the area, you may get lost and unfortunately the adjoining neighborhoods at Market Street are home to drive by shootings and other crime. If Delaware 202 is so confusing, then why not choose a new number or decommission it? What other instance does a U.S. highway split with its old route that carries the same number anyway?
For additional photos see:
Also I hate to report it, but Interstate 95 signs for the Delaware 1 & 7 interchange were carbon copied and therefore still make no mentioning of Dover! They did add the DelDOT beach chair logo, which is supposed to convey to motorists that the road connects with the Delaware beaches. Otherwise you will still think that the 51-mile freeway only connects to “Christiana Mall Road”, which should be referenced on auxiliary signs, since Christiana and Mall Road are separate destinations…
Lastly, Delaware has uploaded portions of its Manual of Uniform Traffic Devices. Much to my surprise, the document makes no reference to the use of MUST EXIT on overhead guide signs! Even more surprising are that the rules on freeway guide signs appear to be decent, with rules against sign clutter and what styles to use. Unfortunately in the field, the sign glutton continues and whats with every road now being signed as an evacuation route anyway? For what are we evacuating? Hurricanes, the Salem Nuclear Power plant, insect swarms? I asked one of my best friends if he has ever evacuated in 33 years of living here and he said no. So why do we now need these signs posted on every state road in northern Delaware?
