All four lanes on Route 1 canal bridge open
Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, all four lanes of traffic and both sidewalks are open on the Route 1 bridge crossing the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal.
This is the first time since late September the bridge is fully open. Delaware Department of Transportation contracted an $8 million project that involved replacing the bridge's concrete decks, approach slabs, joints and bearings; correcting the vertical alignment; realigning the beams; repairing concrete chipping; strengthening concrete piers; sealing concrete abutments and piers; and stabilizing the canal banks. Lighting was also installed.
A May 15 press release from DelDOT says motorists should anticipate intermittent lane closures through Friday, June 12, for painting the bridges.
Route 1 paving and sidewalk improvements on The Forgotten Mile and Dewey Beach, just east of the bridge, are also all but complete. This project began in spring 2019, stopped for the summer months and then resumed at the same time as the bridge construction. This project included repaving Route 1, from the canal bridge to just south of Dewey and pedestrian improvements at intersections.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. Additionally, Flood moonlights as the company’s circulation manager, which primarily means fixing boxes that are jammed with coins during daylight hours, but sometimes means delivering papers in the middle of the night. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
