I see that at the State Line there will be no connection to the existing US 301 (which will be former US 301 when completed) as all traffic will default onto the toll road, but existing US 301 will stop at Strawberry Lane which will have a grade separation to US 301 without any kind of interchange.
To shunpike one will have to leave US 301 in Maryland at the last intersection and go through Warwick and pick up DE 299 as going beyond the last NB intersection will only lead you to the toll road.
Correct me if I am wrong, but does not FHWA require for a US route to be tolled to have a free alternate route? Like with US 412 in Oklahoma, you have US 64 and US 412 Alternate where the us route becomes two of its turnpikes, plus in Kansas its the only reason why US 81 was not turned over to local control south of Wichita where in Kansas US routes paralleling freeways are moved over onto the better quality roadway, but south of Wichita the I-35 freeway is tolled so US 81 leaves the freeway system just south of the KTA toll barrier on I-135.
US 1, US 13 & US 40 are all alternative routes within close proximity with US 301.
Not directly. If you are coming through or from Annapolis and the Bay Bridge, US 1, US 13, or US 40 do you no good. I am talking about directly like US 64 is to US 412 in OK. Even if MD 213 was still US 213, as close as it is, it is not directly connected to the ends of the toll road.
If you build a connector to the soon to be old US 301, then you have it. However, plans show for all MD traffic crossing the state line all having to pay toll as the existing US 301 two lane road will end at Strawberry Lane, and Strawberry Lane will have an overpass over the new US 301 with no ramps. Even DE 299 from Warwick, MD will become west side frontage road to US 301 and have to zig zag over another E-W road to get to the current road into Middletown.
First thing to remember...is there actually any rule regarding a toll-free US option, or are we in urban-legend territory here? In all the reports I've heard about the US 301 toll project in Delaware, making sure a toll-free US route option is available has never come up. Being that the studying of this project
is no less than 6 or 7 years old, that would've been something that should have already been considered.
US 13 is fairly close to the proposed US 301 routing much of its length. If you want to say that there's no US route near the DE/MD state line of US 301, there are other roads in that area that can be redesigned as a US route to satisfy the requirement, if such requirement exists.
(Edited to fix bad placement of the end quote brackets)
If they did MD 282 and DE 299 would have to fit that bill.
Anyway Jeff, you are talking about non road geeks who do not think like us. Yes you and I to shunpike the tolls would use MD 282 and DE 299 or simply cut over to MD 213 to head to US 40 or I-95, but a non road geek would cry and say its difficult. Wait and see when it opens when some have to start shelling out money that they did not before. I heard it when they tolled FL 528 near the Orlando International Airport back in 1982, as for years it was free. People did not understand that, although longer, it does have a toll bypass using the newly aligned McCoy Road, so only the upgrade from arterial to freeway got tolled in reality, but being the 528 moniker got shifted and the fact the toll freeway sits on top of the old four lane McCoy Road people did not see the difference.
IMO, wait till the DRTJC starts charging to cross the Delaware River on I-95! You will hear people rant like mad, especially those who did not attend the regional hearings open to the public where they could have attended and voiced their concerns.