Bicycle council discusses possible access from Glade to JB Trail

Walt Bryan hopes to get plans for a bicycle and walking trail connecting The Glade community outside Rehoboth Beach to the Junction & Breakwater Trail rolling after decades of discussion that has not found a solution.

Bryan, the Sussex County representative on the Delaware Bicycle Council, remotely joined the panel’s meeting Dec. 4, at the Delaware Department of Transportation offices in Dover.

He said he would approach Sussex County Council members, including the three newly elected ones who begin their terms in January, to discuss options.

“I think the county could carry this whole ball,” Bryan said.

There has been a growing interest in a trail among residents in housing developments in The Glade area in Rehoboth Beach, where Holland Glade Road, the only access road, is narrow with no shoulders, making it hazardous for cyclists and pedestrians, council members said.

“It’s a miracle that nobody’s been hit or killed,” Bryan said. “There’s a lot of bike activity in and out of The Glade."

Resident Maureen Cassidy said there have been serious crashes on a half-mile stretch of narrow roadways in the area of The Glade, one involving a cyclist. 

Routes for a trail have been discussed as far back as a couple of decades but no plan has been pursued, council members said. Possible routes would pass through farmland or forest land, some of it owned by the state.

Mike Krumrine, a representative from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control who serves on the council, said he would look into rights of way that would be needed to create a trail.

Bike lane sensors

Also at the Dec. 4 meeting, Bill Weller, advocacy director of Sussex Cyclists, noted a deficiency in the design of some sensors at intersections controlled by traffic signals. They do not detect bicycles in bicycle lanes, he said.

Weller suggested the council ask DelDOT to create a policy requiring adequate sensors in bicycle lanes for all new road construction or road upgrades at intersections that have traffic signals. The council is gathering information before deciding how to proceed with the request, said John Fiori, bicycle coordinator for DelDOT. If a recommendation is made, it would be reviewed by the agency’s traffic section, Fiori said.

Roundabout design

The council also discussed roundabout design options to consider for future state design guidelines suggested by James Wilson, a New Castle County representative to the council.

The state recently approved revisions for roundabout design guidelines, based on federal highway and other standards, Fiori said.

Wilson said roundabouts that have a sharp, roughly 90-degree turn for vehicles to enter and exit are more safe for pedestrians and bicyclists because the driver must slow to nearly a stop.

Roundabouts designed with entrances that allow vehicles to smoothly and quickly enter and exit at less of an angle are more dangerous because drivers commonly do not yield the right of way to pedestrians or cyclists trying to cross, Wilson said.

Peter Haag, a chief traffic engineer for the state, said other traffic-calming design elements that slow traffic before it reaches the roundabout help to make even those designs safer.

The state is working on revising its traffic-calming manual, said Haag, who noted the design of each roundabout is considered independently, based on conditions at the site.

“There’s no safe way to design a roundabout,” Bryan added. “People go in there like a raceway.”

Route 9 trail crossing

Bryan also suggested the county add a sealed tube tunnel under Route 9 for bicyclists and pedestrians to cross on the Lewes-to-Georgetown Trail.

Wilson said a sealed tube tunnel would be confining and unpopular among users. He suggested a tunnel that included an opening to the sky at points where possible would make it more pleasant to use.

Marty Lessner of the Council on Transportation said he worried that if costs for designing a crossing are exorbitant, they will never be pursued.

Fiori said the state has installed a signal at Route 9 and Fisher Road to make it easier for cyclists to cross Route 9, and there are no plans for additional action by the state.