DelDOT prepares for public workshop on Milton Route 16 study

The Delaware Department of Transportation will hold a public workshop from 5 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 3, at Mariner Middle School to get public input on proposals for improving the Route 16 corridor in and around Milton.

DelDOT is in the midst of a followup study to its extensive Coastal Corridors study, which lasted from 2019 until this summer. The department has been working with town officials and residents to understand the conditions of the road through Milton particularly, formulating a vision for the future and soliciting public involvement. The main goals of the Milton study are to find ways to improve safety, find a design compatible for all users, increase connectivity to downtown Milton, improve quality of life, and support economic and environmental sustainability.

The Milton study is part of a multiphase approach to traffic improvements in the area. The first phase is expected to last until June as DelDOT seeks to come up with some design plans for short- and long-term improvements. Phase 2 of the project would last from July until June 2026 and would find a single-concept design for Route 16 through Milton and explore potential alternative routes.

To facilitate all this, DelDOT formed the Milton Transportation Advisory Group to provide a local connection that could discuss and debate strategies. That group met Nov. 8 to continue to discuss issues related to Route 16 and prepare for the Dec. 3 workshop.

Among the key issues identified by DelDOT related to Milton are poor pedestrian and bicycle connectivity across Route 16, access management for houses and businesses in the area and the amount of development activity in the area. 

DelDOT manager Leah Kacanda said a lot of the focus for Route 16 through Milton is on reducing speeding in the main commercial area. The main point is to improve safety for pedestrian and bicycle traffic in the area. Kacanda floated a number of ideas, which included transition zones for cars to gradually reduce speed as they enter the main business area of Milton. By reducing speed, the thought is it would make Route 16 more hospitable to bicycle traffic.

Milton Police Chief Derrick Harvey said he would favor an approach where improvements are made to the roadway first and then drop the speed limits. Among the improvements he’d like to see are turn lanes to get people from Route 16 to Route 5 heading toward Route 1. 

Richard Trask, chair of the town’s planning and zoning commission, said he would like to see an approach where traffic, especially large-vehicle traffic like tractor-trailers, would not have to go through downtown Milton to get from Route 5 to points south.

Kacanda said the Dec. 3 workshop is meant to continue the discussion with additional public input.  

“This is the beginning,” she said.