Delaware

[tmoore952]

Yes, that part of that spaghetti bowl was a landmark on my trips (as a passenger) to the Delaware beaches when I was growing up in Boothwyn, PA.  Pre I-495, we'd go by way of 95, 295, and 13/40 to the split where 84 Lumber is now, then down 13.

Interesting, when we were coming from north of Wilmington (Fairfax to be specific), to go that way we took 95 down to 141 south to 13/40 south. My parents did not like taking I-295 to get to 13/40 south. IIRC, when on I-295 after coming from I-95 S, in a short distance one had to cut across the lanes that were coming from I-95 N to get to that exit. When I was young, I always wished they would do that so I could see all the signs for NJ Turnpike/NY, and did not realize why they didn't do that until much later when I drove that way myself.

Unlike you, we went down I-95 always, both before and after I-495 was there. But you were right near where I-495 started.

[Alex4897]

I noticed on the "Interstate 95 in Delaware" Wikipedia page that "In April 2021, Wilmington city council unanimously approved backing a plan for constructing an urban park over I-95 in the city", guessing similar to what was done in Boston and downtown Philadelphia. That's now 2 1/2 years ago, not sure what has transpired since then.

I mentioned in an earlier post that building I-95 through downtown Wilmington was very divisive in the 1960s because of the neighborhoods destroyed for it to be built (Washington DC must have gotten at least some of its cue from what happened in Wilmington; I don't know as much about what happened in Boston).

A feasibility study cosponsored by DelDOT, WILMAPCO, and Wilmington itself wrapped up earlier this year, you can see the results here: http://www.wilmapco.org/i95cap/

Unfortunately it seems the project has hit the inevitable brick wall that is its bill. The article indicates it'll run $400m and that the state's trying to cover a significant chunk of it through federal grants.

[jeffandnicole]

I noticed on the "Interstate 95 in Delaware" Wikipedia page that "In April 2021, Wilmington city council unanimously approved backing a plan for constructing an urban park over I-95 in the city", guessing similar to what was done in Boston and downtown Philadelphia. That's now 2 1/2 years ago, not sure what has transpired since then.

I mentioned in an earlier post that building I-95 through downtown Wilmington was very divisive in the 1960s because of the neighborhoods destroyed for it to be built (Washington DC must have gotten at least some of its cue from what happened in Wilmington; I don't know as much about what happened in Boston).

A feasibility study cosponsored by DelDOT, WILMAPCO, and Wilmington itself wrapped up earlier this year, you can see the results here: http://www.wilmapco.org/i95cap/

Unfortunately it seems the project has hit the inevitable brick wall that is its bill. The article indicates it'll run $400m and that the state's trying to cover a significant chunk of it through federal grants.

Per that article:

"President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill allocated $1 billion to reconnect communities divided by highways and other roads. Proponents of the I-95 cap in Wilmington are confident this project meets the standards necessary to obtain grant money but acknowledged the federal grant process is extremely competitive. Even if the grant were awarded, it covers only 50% of costs, leaving the state to find a way to pay for the rest."

Based on the article, the project could receive $200 million.  Even with the President being a state resident, they're not going to award 1/5th of the available money to a medium size city that the state is constantly trying to get the thru-traffic to avoid.

[Alps]

I noticed on the "Interstate 95 in Delaware" Wikipedia page that "In April 2021, Wilmington city council unanimously approved backing a plan for constructing an urban park over I-95 in the city", guessing similar to what was done in Boston and downtown Philadelphia. That's now 2 1/2 years ago, not sure what has transpired since then.

I mentioned in an earlier post that building I-95 through downtown Wilmington was very divisive in the 1960s because of the neighborhoods destroyed for it to be built (Washington DC must have gotten at least some of its cue from what happened in Wilmington; I don't know as much about what happened in Boston).

A feasibility study cosponsored by DelDOT, WILMAPCO, and Wilmington itself wrapped up earlier this year, you can see the results here: http://www.wilmapco.org/i95cap/

Unfortunately it seems the project has hit the inevitable brick wall that is its bill. The article indicates it'll run $400m and that the state's trying to cover a significant chunk of it through federal grants.

Per that article:

"President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill allocated $1 billion to reconnect communities divided by highways and other roads. Proponents of the I-95 cap in Wilmington are confident this project meets the standards necessary to obtain grant money but acknowledged the federal grant process is extremely competitive. Even if the grant were awarded, it covers only 50% of costs, leaving the state to find a way to pay for the rest."

Based on the article, the project could receive $200 million.  Even with the President being a state resident, they're not going to award 1/5th of the available money to a medium size city that the state is constantly trying to get the thru-traffic to avoid.

They may receive less than 50%. States will look for multiple funding sources for projects and take whatever they can get, not necessarily all-or-nothing.

[74/171FAN]

(For DE 4)  SR 4 and Harmony Road Intersection Improvements

[jeffandnicole]

I noticed on the "Interstate 95 in Delaware" Wikipedia page that "In April 2021, Wilmington city council unanimously approved backing a plan for constructing an urban park over I-95 in the city", guessing similar to what was done in Boston and downtown Philadelphia. That's now 2 1/2 years ago, not sure what has transpired since then.

I mentioned in an earlier post that building I-95 through downtown Wilmington was very divisive in the 1960s because of the neighborhoods destroyed for it to be built (Washington DC must have gotten at least some of its cue from what happened in Wilmington; I don't know as much about what happened in Boston).

A feasibility study cosponsored by DelDOT, WILMAPCO, and Wilmington itself wrapped up earlier this year, you can see the results here: http://www.wilmapco.org/i95cap/

Unfortunately it seems the project has hit the inevitable brick wall that is its bill. The article indicates it'll run $400m and that the state's trying to cover a significant chunk of it through federal grants.

Per that article:

"President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill allocated $1 billion to reconnect communities divided by highways and other roads. Proponents of the I-95 cap in Wilmington are confident this project meets the standards necessary to obtain grant money but acknowledged the federal grant process is extremely competitive. Even if the grant were awarded, it covers only 50% of costs, leaving the state to find a way to pay for the rest."

Based on the article, the project could receive $200 million.  Even with the President being a state resident, they're not going to award 1/5th of the available money to a medium size city that the state is constantly trying to get the thru-traffic to avoid.

They may receive less than 50%. States will look for multiple funding sources for projects and take whatever they can get, not necessarily all-or-nothing.

Yeah, I meant to type "no more than".

Delaware may try to secure whatever funding they can get, but their actions seem to show that they aren't prioritizing this project at this point.

[mrsman]

Ultimately, the Churchman's Marsh area of 95 South in Delaware can be a huge chokepoint.  North of 141, there's 3 lanes from 95, 3 lanes from 495, and 4 lanes from 295.  That's 10 lanes, that all need to somehow narrow down to 5 lanes on 95 south of 141. 

I-495 loses one where it exits onto 295 North, then the left lane ends after meeting up with 95, so we're down to 8 lanes merging into 5.  295 South loses 1 at the 13/40 exit, then another at the 141 exit, then another as it merges with 95, giving us the remaining 5 lanes.

Pulling up DelDOT's traffic count page again:  https://deldot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=4f76a1fa5b5c493cb3e1fad44a50dad1 , if you zoom in on the 95/295/495 interchange area, the first thing that's notable is that the counts are for both directions, so roughly divide them in half for a single direction.  It shows I-95 AADT of 98k, and I-295 Traffic of 96k just before the merge.  Since these appear to be 2 way counts, cut them in half so 95 traffic is roughly 49k and 295 is 48k.  Since the counts are probably before the 141 interchange, some traffic will be exiting there before the 95/295 merge.  However, DelDOT has allocated 4 thru lanes to 95, and 1 thru lane to 295, after the 95/295 merge, even though traffic counts are fairly similar on both roadways at this point.  No wonder why congestion is significantly worse on 295 approaching 95.

Now, granted, these aren't exact figures because of omitted data including ramp data, I don't know the time period of when the counts occurred, and of course don't have the breakdown of weekday vs weekend, summer vs winter, etc.  But there's some fairly reasonable numbers here that show that DelDOT is screwing with traffic that is mainly coming from NJ. 

This basically sums it up.  Even though traffic counts of the combined 95/495 and 295 are roughly equal, all of 295 traffic has to be shrunk down to only one thru lane, whereas the d95/495 traffic gets 4 thru lanes.  Ideally, of course, it should be two and three. 

And if one were to say that the rightmost lane doesn't count since it forces an exit to DE-1, then the split in traffic should be two and two.  Of the four lanes that "survive" leading to the MD border, two of which should be from 295 and two of which should be from 95/495.  Based on traffic counts it makes sense.  But since DE is paying for it, More of DE traffic is coming from 95/495 so that is the preferred movement, unfortunately.

And things may be even worse if De Mem Bridge becomes all electronic tolling.  4 lanes of bridge traffic (sourced from the combination of NJTP and 295 in NJ, which certainly requires 4 lanes minimum), unadulterated by the toll plaza is forced in a relatively short time into only one thru lane.  It simply doesn't work.


IMO, the easiest fix, based on what is currently there, is to simply end the right lane of the combined 95/495 thru lanes, 4->3 as the roadway passes under DE-141.  The 4th lane traffic will have to merge left.  This will allow 2 lanes of 295 to become the 2 left lanes south of the junction.  And the remaining 3 lanes are sourced from 95/495, but all of that traffic has several opportunities to merge with each other to become 3 lanes far more smoothly.

[74/171FAN]

(For I-95 and DE 896)  TRAFFIC ALERT - New Castle County - I-95/Rt 896 Improvements--Upcoming Lane and Ramp Closures

[74/171FAN]

(For I-95 and DE 896) TRAFFIC ALERT - New Castle County - I-95/Rt 896 Interchange--Upcoming Lane and Ramp Closures

(For DE 36)  TRAFFIC ALERT - Kent and Sussex County - Road Closure of Cedar Beach Road between Beaver Dam Road and Sapp Road

[74/171FAN]

(For DE 92)  TRAFFIC ALERT - New Castle County - Lane Restrictions on Naamans Road at the Former Tri State Mall Entrance

[74/171FAN]

(Mainly for DE 202 and US 13 BUS (Wilmington)) Old Brandywine Village - Streetscape Improvements, Phase 2 Public Workshop

[rover]

Ultimately, the Churchman's Marsh area of 95 South in Delaware can be a huge chokepoint.  North of 141, there's 3 lanes from 95, 3 lanes from 495, and 4 lanes from 295.  That's 10 lanes, that all need to somehow narrow down to 5 lanes on 95 south of 141. 

I-495 loses one where it exits onto 295 North, then the left lane ends after meeting up with 95, so we're down to 8 lanes merging into 5.  295 South loses 1 at the 13/40 exit, then another at the 141 exit, then another as it merges with 95, giving us the remaining 5 lanes.

Pulling up DelDOT's traffic count page again:  https://deldot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=4f76a1fa5b5c493cb3e1fad44a50dad1 , if you zoom in on the 95/295/495 interchange area, the first thing that's notable is that the counts are for both directions, so roughly divide them in half for a single direction.  It shows I-95 AADT of 98k, and I-295 Traffic of 96k just before the merge.  Since these appear to be 2 way counts, cut them in half so 95 traffic is roughly 49k and 295 is 48k.  Since the counts are probably before the 141 interchange, some traffic will be exiting there before the 95/295 merge.  However, DelDOT has allocated 4 thru lanes to 95, and 1 thru lane to 295, after the 95/295 merge, even though traffic counts are fairly similar on both roadways at this point.  No wonder why congestion is significantly worse on 295 approaching 95.

Now, granted, these aren't exact figures because of omitted data including ramp data, I don't know the time period of when the counts occurred, and of course don't have the breakdown of weekday vs weekend, summer vs winter, etc.  But there's some fairly reasonable numbers here that show that DelDOT is screwing with traffic that is mainly coming from NJ. 

This basically sums it up.  Even though traffic counts of the combined 95/495 and 295 are roughly equal, all of 295 traffic has to be shrunk down to only one thru lane, whereas the d95/495 traffic gets 4 thru lanes.  Ideally, of course, it should be two and three. 

And if one were to say that the rightmost lane doesn't count since it forces an exit to DE-1, then the split in traffic should be two and two.  Of the four lanes that "survive" leading to the MD border, two of which should be from 295 and two of which should be from 95/495.  Based on traffic counts it makes sense.  But since DE is paying for it, More of DE traffic is coming from 95/495 so that is the preferred movement, unfortunately.

And things may be even worse if De Mem Bridge becomes all electronic tolling.  4 lanes of bridge traffic (sourced from the combination of NJTP and 295 in NJ, which certainly requires 4 lanes minimum), unadulterated by the toll plaza is forced in a relatively short time into only one thru lane.  It simply doesn't work.


IMO, the easiest fix, based on what is currently there, is to simply end the right lane of the combined 95/495 thru lanes, 4->3 as the roadway passes under DE-141.  The 4th lane traffic will have to merge left.  This will allow 2 lanes of 295 to become the 2 left lanes south of the junction.  And the remaining 3 lanes are sourced from 95/495, but all of that traffic has several opportunities to merge with each other to become 3 lanes far more smoothly.

I am of the view the other big issue is the weaving of 295 to DE1.
I think it would be best to have it so that where 295 and 95 merge SB that the road splits with 3 thru lanes and 3 C/D lanes like what VA did at RT 17 to RT 3 in Fredericksburg.  Ultimately this is what is needed.
If DE is trying to give preference to Wilmington commuters they are missing the point as they are short-changing DE beach tourism traffic.

[74/171FAN]

(For DE 1, DE 7, and DE 273) TRAFFIC ALERT - New Castle County - Nighttime Lane Restrictions on SB Route 1 Over Route 273

[74/171FAN]

(For US 202)  TRAFFIC ALERT - New Castle County - UPDATE--Lane Restriction on the Ramp from SB Rt 202 onto SB I-95

[74/171FAN]

(For DE 1D)  TRAFFIC ALERT - Sussex County - Closure of Plantation Road

[Alex4897]

Workshop information for an intersection improvements project at SR 4 & Harmony Road got posted today. Changes include an extra NB thru lane, an extra WB left turn lane, removal of the SB left turn into Omega Shopping Center, and conversion of three of the intersection's corners into "protected intersection quadrants," presumably with right turn signals to boot. The crash data they included in the presentation didn't indicate a problem with pedestrian collisions, though I guess given the growing bike infrastructure along the corridor they're looking to get ahead of any potential problems.

[elsmere241]

Is Elsmere a control city now, in between Newport and Fairfax on 141?  One sign that I go past on my commute, in Newport, was recently changed to "DE-141 north, Elsmere".

[Dough4872]

Is Elsmere a control city now, in between Newport and Fairfax on 141?  One sign that I go past on my commute, in Newport, was recently changed to "DE-141 north, Elsmere".

DE 141 doesn't go directly to Elsmere, but it does have access to it via the DE 2 interchange. Prices Corner might be a better control city or should have just left it as Fairfax.

[74/171FAN]

(For DE 896)  TRAFFIC ALERT - New Castle County - I-95/Rt 896 Interchange--Upcoming Lane and Ramp Closures

(For US 202) TRAFFIC ALERT - New Castle County - I-95 NB at the Route 202 Off Ramp

[74/171FAN]

(For I-495)  TRAFFIC ALERT - New Castle County - Ramp Closure Coming for Bridge Deck Repair

(For DE 299)  TRAFFIC ALERT - New Castle County - Rt 299 Traffic Shift and a New Traffic Signal

[Dough4872]

https://www.wboc.com/news/neighbors-seek-to-remove-plantation-from-lewes-road-name/article_d54d2392-8034-11ee-b3a7-834d682604f1.html looks like some people want to change the name of Plantation Road (DE 1D) in Sussex County

[tmoore952]

Is Elsmere a control city now, in between Newport and Fairfax on 141?  One sign that I go past on my commute, in Newport, was recently changed to "DE-141 north, Elsmere".

DE 141 doesn't go directly to Elsmere, but it does have access to it via the DE 2 interchange. Prices Corner might be a better control city or should have just left it as Fairfax.

I always felt the control city should be Greenville.

I grew up in the Fairfax development. I don't believe it is an incorporated area. I'm not sure Prices Corner is incorporated either.
But when I tell people in other states where I grew up, I either say "north of Wilmington" (which is vague), "Fairfax", or "Talleyville".

[elsmere241]

Now that you mention it, Greenville would make more sense as a control city.  And no, Prices Corner and Fairfax are not incorporated.  (Neither is Greenville, but it's more identifiable as a place.)  I never quite know what DelDOT is thinking.

[tmoore952]

Now that you mention it, Greenville would make more sense as a control city.  And no, Prices Corner and Fairfax are not incorporated.  (Neither is Greenville, but it's more identifiable as a place.)  I never quite know what DelDOT is thinking.

Most people who have heard of Greenville, may have heard of it due to either Biden, or Hagley Museum.

To follow up on my earlier post, about explaining to out-of-state people where I grew up, to those who know the area but not well, I always mention the Rolllns Building which was about half a mile due west of where I lived. Everyone seems to remember that building if they have seen it. It is across the street from the Fairfax Shopping Center, which is what I think of when I see "Fairfax" as a control city.

Now that I live in Baltimore-DC area, I have had several occasions on airplane flights to/from New England cities to fly near Wilmington at altitude, and that Rollins Building is very prominent from the air, being on the Piedmont which is itself a couple hundred feet elevation above Wilmington, and also very isolated (nothing remotely challenges its height in that area with except some radio towers (e.g., WDEL/WSTW and WJBR) which you can't see well from the air).

[elsmere241]

I don't know what the Rollins building is technicially called now.  (And I work for New Castle County, even.)  Greenville would work at least as well as Fairfax for a control city, probably better than Elsmere.  DelDOT is so scattershot with its signage that the fact that they didn't just carbon-copy this sign is significant enough, but I have no idea why they picked Elsmere.

I would like to know why Newport is a solo control city in both directions on 141, besides that fact that it's incorporated and 141 goes right on top of it.  Most traffic in either direction isn't getting off there.