Infrastructure projects take over Dewey in off season

Several infrastructure projects are lined up for the off season in Dewey Beach, including paving streets, marking driveways and flood mitigation efforts. 

Town Manager Bill Zolper said a Read Avenue bayside project geared to help with stormwater management should start in January, then relining stormwater pipes on Dickinson and Collins Avenue bayside should begin in February. 

“These projects should help mitigate flooding when completed,” Zolper said. 

Flooding on Read Avenue has been an ongoing issue. Some time ago, steel valves were removed from a three-valve outfall system, resulting in worse flooding. The $52,000 project calls for putting plastic, not steel, valves back on the outfalls so they last longer if properly maintained.

At the Bayard Avenue pump station, two outfall pipes will be cleaned and resealed, and a separation in the station wall will be corrected, Zolper said. 

The $141,000 pipe relining is the second phase of a project resulting from an assessment of the town’s stormwater drainage system that revealed most pipes need to be relined and that remaining pipes should be replaced due to broken, corroded or collapsed structures.

From Collins Avenue north to Cullen Street, all streets owned by the State of Delaware, including Bayard, will be paved, Zolper said. Work will begin on Collins Avenue mid-March and should be concluded by May 1, weather permitting, he said.

Zolper said he asked for an estimate on the cost to pave the three town-owned roads – Chesapeake, Jersey and Carolina – and then he will request funding to pave the first two blocks of those streets that are already paved, not including any gravel areas.

After streets are paved, all driveway entrances will be remarked, Zolper said. Town code allows for one 20-foot driveway entrance or two 10-foot driveways per property. 

Before driveway entrances are marked, the town will give property owners the option to change their driveway entrance configuration to one of the two allowed entrances, he said. Owners will be asked to use chalk to mark on the street where they want their driveway entrances. 

For those property owners who have put pavers across the entire front of their property, the town will determine the location of the driveway to mark, he said.

“We will mark driveways in the whole town,” Zolper said.

Town employees will also trim trees and bushes in the town’s right of way to increase safety at intersections and clear space for public parking, Zolper said, noting that any signs placed in the town right of way will be removed.