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[froggie]

For those who may be interested, here's the proposed layout.


BTW, Alex, in this project, DelDOT themselves still refer to that stretch of Wilkins Rd as DE 30.  Could it be that DE 30 wasn't extended along the new frontage road after all?  Or could it be a case where they consider BOTH roads to be part of DE 30?

[Alps]

BTW, Alex, in this project, DelDOT themselves still refer to that stretch of Wilkins Rd as DE 30.  Could it be that DE 30 wasn't extended along the new frontage road after all?  Or could it be a case where they consider BOTH roads to be part of DE 30?

That strikes me as it being the interchange by which DE 1 traffic would access DE 30, moreso than Wilkins itself necessarily being DE 30.  I'm sure it's a State Road linking 30 and 1 anyway, so may as well sign it from 1 to 30 seamlessly.

[froggie]

Prior to the "frontage road" being built, which according to Alex extended DE 30 up to BUSINESS 1, Wilkins Rd was DE 30.  It should also be noted that DelDOT's shapefiles still show Wilkins Rd as DE 30.

[mightyace]

For those who may be interested, here's the proposed layout.

Does anyone know why it is only a "half-trumpet."  It looks like there's room to build a full one.

[froggie]

I'd hazard a bet they're utilizing the existing roadway for the "southbound ramps" in order to cut costs.

[Alex]

Delaware roads: Faster way to pay $4 in the works

[Alex]

State Route Designation to Remain on SR 82

Dover -- The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) recently completed a Virtual Public Workshop intended to receive public comment on a proposal to declassify State Route 82, removing the state route designation from the roadways that are part of the corridor. As a result of the response generated by the online presentation, DelDOT has announced that no change will be made.

The Virtual Workshop was posted on the DelDOT website on March 4, 2010 and remained available for public viewing and comment for a period of 30 days, until April 4th. Viewers were given an opportunity to respond to the delisting proposal, also online. During the presentation and survey period, DelDOT received 120 responses. Seventy-five percent (75%) of respondents indicated that they opposed the removal of the state route designation from SR82. The main concern expressed by opponents of the proposal was the value of the state route designation when giving directions to visitors who would make their way through the roadways that constitute SR82.

State Route 82 is a five-and-a-half mile corridor in the Red Clay Valley, and is part of a network of roads that were designated by DelDOT as a Scenic Byway in 2004. SR82 includes Campbell Road, New London Road, and Creek Road. The Scenic Byway designation requires the development of a corridor management plan to help preserve the attributes of the byway. The information on the reason for the delisting, including the assurance that it would have no impact on DelDOT's maintenance responsibilities or 911 response, was presented in the online Virtual Workshop. Opponents of the proposal also noted disagreement with the contention that truck and other vehicular traffic would be reduced, and the opinion that the state route designation was part of the historical qualities of the byway.

Concern was also expressed that the new Auburn Heights Preserve on Creek Road in Yorklyn is dependent upon the state route designation in increasing awareness of the location.

Just thought to check up on the status of this and I am pleased with the results. 

[Alex]

U.S. 9 widening project divides nearby residents

A plan to reconfigure several intersections along U.S. 9 has had mixed reception from nearby residents.

Delaware Department of Transportation spokesperson Jason Lang said the changes, through the Highway Safety Improvement Program, are meant to prevent traffic accidents at the intersections of U.S. 9 and Gravel Hill, Hudson, Sweetbriar and Dairy Farm roads.

"There have been enough (accidents) to trigger this project in order to improve safety," he said, though he could not provide exact numbers.

Each intersection is being widened to create separate lanes for through traffic, as well as left and right turns, Lang said.

According to plans, he said Log Cabin Hill Road may be closed or realigned at the Dairy Farm Road intersection, because the road currently funnels traffic almost directly into the intersection.

[Alex]

DelDOT plans Del. 26 detour projects for July

MILLVILLE — A plan to improve alternative routes for use during the long-gestating Del. 26 improvement project is slated to begin next month, officials said.

Delaware Department of Transportation spokesman Jason Lang said the improvements, which would focus on a series of roads south of the major artery in Millville and Ocean View, will provide a detour when construction on the main project begins.

"The State Route 26 Detour Routes project will cost just under $10 million to build," he said. "And the State Route 26 Mainline project is estimated to cost $30 million."

In 2004, DelDOT released a plan for widening Del. 26, the corridor that connects the beach resorts to U.S. 113, but the project has been repeatedly delayed.

Lang said funding issues have kept the project from moving forward.

Construction on the main project is currently scheduled for fall 2012, pending funding availability, he said.

[NJRoadfan]

All the funky shaped rest area signs on I-95 are gone. Looks like they are making some progress on the reconstruction though. The I-95 south ramp from DE-896 south is closed for the express EZ-pass construction. Ironically the detour is the toll shunpike along DE-2 and DE-4 into Maryland.

[Alex]

Delaware Welcome Center a destination in itself

"We've come a very long way from Hot Shoppes," Gov. Jack Markell said Friday before cutting the ribbon at the 42,657-square-foot Delaware Welcome Center building. The site will open to the public Thursday.

Construction of the center began in fall 2009. The Delaware Department of Transportation owns the site, but no state funding was expended on the project. Delaware makes money from rents and gets a cut of the sales, but more details were unavailable Friday.

Future maintenance will be done by HMSHost, a firm that built and will maintain the center for the next 35 years. HMSHost operated the previous 29,000-square-foot plaza, which was built in 1964.

Everything about the $35 million site -- the only impression many get of Delaware on the state's 24-mile stretch of I-95 -- is bigger and newer.

The previous incarnation saw about 3 million visitors per year. The new center is expected to have 4.5 million visitors. There are 603 parking spaces for cars and 38 for buses.

The site will have 250 employees between restaurants, shops and a 21-pump Sunoco station.

[froggie]

Something I forgot to mention over the weekend, but on my way home from the SEPA meet, I noticed two new roundabouts along DE 15, one at DE 286, the other at Churchtown Rd a little further south (which becomes MD 310 at the border).

[Alex]

U.S. 113 corridor to get safety overhaul

State transportation officials are unveiling a $4 million plan to improve safety at seven intersections along the U.S. 113 corridor in Sussex County.

The plan, which includes work at five crossovers along the dual highway between Millsboro and Dagsboro, has been in the works for several years, and is unrelated to the $839 million long-term bypass plan for the corridor.

The Delaware Department of Transportation said the intersections were identified as having high accident rates. They are in the state's Highway Safety Improvement Program.

"All the sites already demonstrate the need for improvements," said Mike Williams of DelDOT.

Design work should be finished by fall 2011, with construction to begin in spring 2012, Williams said.

The intersections had 217 crashes among them from January 2002 to May 2006, according to DelDOT data.

The proposed work, and crash totals for that period, include:

•Millsboro: Closing the median crossover to prohibit turns from Sheep Pen or Park Pond roads; 19 crashes.

•Millsboro: Blocking left turns from Radish Road and Second Street, creating channels for turns from lanes on U.S. 113; 26 crashes.

•Millsboro: Blocking left turns from Delaware Avenue in both directions, creating channels for turns from U.S. 113; 26 crashes.

•Millsboro -- Del. 20/Hardscrabble Road: Extending acceleration lane along southbound U.S. 113 from eastbound Del. 20; 56 crashes.

•Dagsboro: Blocking left turns from Molly Field Road and Cricket Street, creating channels for turns from U.S. 113 lanes; eight crashes.

•Dagsboro: Creating an additional southbound left turn lane on U.S. 113 onto Dagsboro Road/Del. 20, and closing a median opening north of the intersection; 55 crashes.

•Ellendale: Blocking some turns onto or off Staytonville Road, while allowing some turns off or onto Fleatown Road; 27 crashes.

[Alex]

Delaware roads: Paving the way for expansion?
Kennett Pike intersection work worries neighbors

DelDOT's plans, which are not final, call for designated left-turn lanes in each direction of Kennett Pike, also known as Del. 52.

That would give the state highway separate lanes for turning onto Kirk Road to the east and Campbell Road to the west. DelDOT also plans to add right-turn lanes, bicycle lanes, a street light, a curb along the southbound right-turn lane and new traffic signal masthead arm poles that hang over the intersection.

[elsmere241]

All the funky shaped rest area signs on I-95 are gone. Looks like they are making some progress on the reconstruction though. The I-95 south ramp from DE-896 south is closed for the express EZ-pass construction. Ironically the detour is the toll shunpike along DE-2 and DE-4 into Maryland.

Not anymore.  The posted detour now (from both directions of DE 896) is to take I-95 north to Exit 3B (DE 273 west) and loop back to I-95 south there.  You'd think they would at least have people turn around at the Welcome Center.

[Alex]

Project to untangle Delaware's busiest interchange
Expect three years of vexation, though, at I-95 and Del. 1

By JEFF MONTGOMERY • The News Journal • August 21, 2010

It's among the most-notorious "Ts" on Delaware's traffic map, a source of endless aggravation for the hundreds of thousands of motorists who slog daily along I-95 and Del. 1 near Christiana Mall.

Now officials say that life around the busiest interchange at the busiest stretch of I-95 in Delaware will take a turn for the better, starting as early as next spring.

But only after a multiyear, $191 million detour through Work Area Purgatory.

"There are all kinds of conflicts that are going to be alleviated with these plans," said Mike Williams, DelDOT spokesman. "It's not going to be a short-term construction project. It will probably be two or three seasons, and it's going to have to be done under traffic. It might be a little dicey -- a little setback to get a large gain."

Proof of DelDOT's progress toward the start of work on new high-speed ramps between the two big highways came this week, with a request for last-minute changes to federal wetland impact statements. Advertisements for construction bids are scheduled to be released in September and October, with all work under way before the end of 2011.

Final approvals will clear the way for work on two new dedicated "flyover" lanes that will carry traffic from northbound Del. 1 to northbound I-95. Another two dedicated and isolated lanes will open for southbound I-95 traffic moving to southbound Del. 1.

Other lanes will untangle local traffic to and from the Christiana and Christiana Mall area, and eliminate a maddening series of jogs, weaves and Jersey barriers that keep horns blaring and lights flashing throughout rush hours.

"It's one of those daily irritants that I think at this point a lot of people take in stride, but I'm sure they're anxious to see something done," said Glenn Pusey Jr., a Bear-Glasgow community representative on a citizen panel that advises WILMAPCO, a regional transportation planning group.

Pusey, a retired DelDOT highway engineer and manager, said the interchange was once considered "adequate," but traffic and suburban growth erased that claim long ago.

Current-year WILMAPCO traffic estimates show that 233,725 cars and trucks move along I-95 north of Del. 1 daily, while 106,090 travel Del. 1 south of the interstate each day.

Counts for I-95 are 16 percent higher than the number predicted for this year in a WILMAPCO forecast issued in 2004. Current Del. 1 traffic levels are 14 percent higher than was predicted just six years ago.

By comparison, federal records this year list just 41 highway segments nationwide with more than 250,000 vehicles per day on average, with Interstate 270 in the Maryland-D.C.-Virginia area listed as having just over 250,000.

"In terms of its regional importance, that 'T' connects the top of the state with the bottom of the state," said Dan Blevins, a WILMAPCO planner. "It has become the easiest way to access I-95 if you're coming from southern parts of the peninsula. Not just Delaware, but the Delmarva Peninsula."

Pressure will grow with development of the new U.S. 301 connector, a project that will funnel traffic from the Middletown area, parts of Eastern Shore Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the Del. 1 Roth Bridge south of Christiana.

"Demand has outstripped the current alignment" already, Blevins said.

"You'll see a lot of phasing" of construction, Blevins added. "There have been discussions with the Christiana Mall about limiting or curtailing lane closures from Thanksgiving to Christmas."

DelDOT already has completed construction of a fifth through-lane on I-95 to handle the extra traffic to and from Del. 1.

Along the northbound side of the interstate, Del. 1 traffic will merge from both sides.

Contractors also are building new high-speed toll collection lanes on I-95 at Newark.

[froggie]

'Course, if the northern half of Delaware wasn't "sprawl city", the mess wouldn't be as bad.  Still a mess with all the mall ramps, but not as bad.

[Alex]

Delaware roads: Troubles pile up for inlet bridge

[Alex]

DelDOT moves forward with Del. 54 widening project

The state Department of Transportation is about to move forward with a Del. 54 improvement project, which will address safety and traffic issues caused by development along the east-west thoroughfare in southeastern Sussex County.

The project, which has been in the works since an initial survey was conducted in 2003, will increase the width of the road by 40 feet, making room for left turn lanes, a bicycle lane and sidewalks.

Road construction will be conducted in a two-mile span between Selbyville and Fenwick Island, from the west end of the highway at Bayside on Del. 20 to the Mallard Lake Development at Keenwick Road.

DelDOT spokesperson Michael Williams said a bid of about $10 million has been accepted for the project, although an award letter has not yet been issued.

The intersection of Del. 20 and Del. 54 will see a significant improvement through the project, he said.

"With the increased development in that area in the last couple years and the heavy traffic in summer, a dedicated turn lane is the perfect option," he said.

[Alex]

Wilmington adds seven traffic cameras

WILMINGTON -- Seven new red-light cameras will be added to the 27 already in place in the city -- and all will soon be converted to digital technology.

The new cameras will be activated Oct. 4, Police Chief Michael Szczerba said.

The new locations are eastbound on Pennsylvania Avenue at Lincoln Street, eastbound Pennsylvania Avenue at Franklin Street, eastbound Lancaster Avenue at Cleveland Avenue, southbound South Heald Street at D Street, westbound Fourth Street at Adams Street, westbound Fourth Street at Washington Street and westbound Lancaster Avenue at Cleveland Avenue.

The digital conversion will provide better-quality images of vehicles traveling through intersections and will better allow city officials to determine if violations actually took place. For example, the new images will make it easier to determine if a vehicle came to a complete stop at a red light before making a right turn, Szczerba said.

Vehicle owners will still get photos sent to them, but they soon will be able to view a 10- second video of the alleged infraction online, city Communications Director John Rago said.

The digital conversion of the 27 current red-light cameras will be done by December.

Mayor James M. Baker said the program has reduced red-light violations at intersections by about 50 percent since the program began in 2001, making them safer.

But critics have called the program a money grab. The $110 tickets generate about $2.2 million a year. About 37 percent of that goes to ACS Government Solutions, the Baltimore company that manages the red-light program for the city.

[Alex]

More of why the country's roads will never get any better, too much opposition... This article slants heavily toward the NIMBY's, so beware.

State's road plan under fire

The land between Millsboro and Frankford is home to many Sussex County poultry farms and cornfields, a quiet, rural area that has co-existed peacefully with U.S. 113 since the highway was built almost a century ago.

But now, as a state road project threatens to split their countryside, residents and farmers are joining forces to fight the $839 million bypass the state says is needed to keep roads from clogging in the decades ahead.

Hundreds of county residents have told state transportation officials they don’t want its U.S. 113 bypass plan, mounting a level of opposition reminiscent of the effort that halted a similar, related project near Milford in 2008.

From her neighbor’s backyard, Nancy Davis looks out at Betts Pond, just outside Millsboro, where the calm water is often used by fishermen and kayakers.

Under DelDOT’s plan, a highway bridge would span part of the pond to route cars around downtown Millsboro, destroying the tranquility she and her neighbors love.

“It’s quiet around here,” Davis said. “We want to keep it that way.”

More than 700 people are on record opposing the Delaware Department of Transportation's preferred route, compared with fewer than 50 people who support state's plan. Millsboro Town Council and the town's mayor have voted to support the plan.

The opposition was documented in petitions, comment forms, letters and e-mails submitted to DelDOT.

DelDOT initially attempted to keep the identities of the writers secret, citing privacy concerns, and released them only after The News Journal appealed to the Attorney General's Office under the Freedom of Information Act. The office agreed that the identities of the commenters were crucial to understanding the agency's decision on the project.

The not-in-my-backyard battle pits DelDOT's portrait of a highway clogged with beach-bound traffic against people who say the plan would run too close to residential neighborhoods, divide or ruin farmland and cost too much money.

"Highway engineers get kind of taken away with their maps and lines and grandiose projects, and sometimes it takes the citizens and Legislature to get them back to the ground level," said Frankford-area orchard owner Jim Bennett, a leading opponent.

The debate has attracted residents not just from the Millsboro-to-Selbyville corridor. A petition drive run by three Millsboro-area residents snagged more than 500 signatures this summer. Davis and her neighbor, David Potter, were among the leaders.

"I didn't talk to anybody in favor of the bypass," Davis said.

The fight has energized farmers whose land would be taken, with the politically powerful county Farm Bureau weighing in against the project.

"They're going to cut off this pristine farmland just so somebody could get to the beach five minutes faster," said third-generation farmer Paul Parsons, who will have three of his family's four Dagsboro-area farm parcels affected -- the bypass slicing them in half or running along the edge. "It's just ridiculous."

Others have expressed concern about the environmental impact as the bypass bridges Indian River, Pepper Creek and Vines Creek.

"They are pristine watersheds, with a major highway," Bennett said.

Linda Mancuso, who lives on Betts Pond Road outside Millsboro, said she understands the need for a bypass but doesn't quite get why it's so close to her home.

"Basically, they're in our backyard," Mancuso said. "It just seems like our central area right there is taking a large brunt of this bypass."

DelDOT officials say they're just proceeding with a traffic-oriented imperative. If something isn't done, they say, in two more decades, U.S. 113 will be almost too clogged to move.

"The people living and doing business in the area in 2030 are going to thank us for having that foresight," said spokesman Mike Williams. "This isn't about today -- it's about 20, 30 years from now."

He said residents' complaints that the plan is simply focused on beach-bound tourists are wrong -- it's meant to address both long-distance and local drivers.

Many of the opponents are demanding the 12.7-mile bypass from north of Millsboro to south of Frankford be dropped in favor of widening and improving the existing highway corridor. That "on-alignment" option is being proposed for other phases of the project in Georgetown and Ellendale.

The state has set aside $1 million for early land purchases and development for the Millsboro-south portion. DelDOT said projects such as this are usually funded up to 80 percent by the federal government, putting Delaware's share at about $167 million.

Today, the dual highway is a main corridor for residents who commute to Georgetown and Dover from the south. Truck traffic still hauls poultry from processing plants, but the chickens have been joined during the summer by a huge flow of beach traffic.

Tourists can head directly south to Ocean City, Md., or use Del. 24, 26 or 54 to get to Delaware's southern resorts, bypassing often-clogged Del. 1 at Lewes and Rehoboth Beach.

DelDOT's preferred plan also turns part of U.S. 113 into a limited-access highway from south of Frankford -- where the bypass would connect -- to the state line at Selbyville. On that portion of the highway, the "on-alignment" element, residents and business owners will be able to access U.S. 113, but will have to use an overpass to head in the opposite direction.

Bennett has a keen perspective on the situation -- he served as a member of the original working group of area residents, business owners and civic leaders who gave input on options.

He and others say instead of building a bypass, DelDOT should widen and improve the existing U.S. 113 footprint, perhaps adding lanes gradually as time and money allows.

Bennett said the state's plan -- to build the bypass first and then improve the southern section of the highway, from south of Frankford to the state line, would create a huge mess when the bypass dumps travelers back onto an unimproved highway.

"This is going to have to be built in its entirety," Bennett said. "You can't just build half of it and end up with people nowhere."

By 2030, traffic along the north-south corridor between Millsboro and the state line at Selbyville could increase by up to 53 percent -- almost 20,000 more cars a day. By 2025 on Del. 24, an east-west route that connects with U.S. 113 in Millsboro, driving will be so slow, it will be more like walking, residents fear.

That's the reason area residents such as Karen Twilley support the project.

Twilley lives on the west side of the highway outside Millsboro, and said it takes too much time to get from one side of town to the other -- up to a half-hour to travel three miles at some times. If she needs to go to a doctor's appointment in Rehoboth, for example, "to get through that mess is torture," she said.

"The traffic is insane," Twilley said. "Something needs to happen."

[froggie]

Bennett has a point.  They should start at the north end and work their way south, unless there's a documented need for separate interchange improvements further south that would have independent utility.  Meanwhile, upgrading DE 1 to a freeway between Dover and Milford would be a good start.

[elsmere241]

I really have to wonder if widening US 113 to a freeway with service roads would really cost less than a bypass.

[deathtopumpkins]

I highly doubt it. If development comes right up to the road, which it does on several portions of 113, then just the necessary land for building the frontage roads would require taking land from every single business along the road, not to mention land required for interchanges.

[froggie]

However, as a general rule, US 113 has a wide median that could be utilized for at least part of the freeway portion, and most of the buildings adjacent to 113 are set back far enough to where the vast bulk of your land-taking would be landscaping and some parking spots, but not the buildings themselves.