New road to relieve traffic for Dartmouth Drive

After years of traffic bottlenecks, it appears the residents of Rolling Meadows will finally get what they want – a working intersection to the entrance of their neighborhood.

Rolling Meadows is on the southbound side of Route 1, hidden behind a commercial development near Lewes that includes Wawa, HomeGoods, Kitchen & Company, Lefty’s Alley and Eats, and a handful of other businesses.

The problem, as anyone who’s ever been there knows, is there is only one entrance and exit from Route 1 for the neighborhood and all the businesses. There are times when drivers leaving the development on Dartmouth Drive have to wait multiple light cycles to get out.

That should soon change. If all goes as planned, there will be a right-in/right-out entrance and exit immediately south of Wawa. The road, two 12-foot-wide travel lanes, will head back to Lefty’s and will have access to the Wawa parking lot. Delmarva Power, which has a substation abutting the property to the south, purchased the 1.62-acre vacant lot where the driveway will be constructed, in late 2015.

Steve Hyle, Rolling Meadows homeowners association president, said the neighborhood has been pushing for a second exit road for several years.

“It will be a much-needed asset to hopefully relieve the traffic congestion into and out of Rolling Meadows,” said Hyle.

DJ Hill, principal owner of Lefty’s Alley and Eats, said he had heard from Wawa that the company was still waiting to receive bids on the project. He said the plan is to select a contractor by the end of June, with construction commencing shortly after the July 4 holiday.

Colleen Labik, Wawa spokeswoman, did not respond to inquiries.

Hill said the construction of the road is good news for everybody – Wawa, Lefty’s, Delmarva Power and especially the people who live in Rolling Meadows. Unfortunately, the road wasn’t put in before summer season began, but, said Hill, hopefully it will be in use midway through, and then it will just be much better for everybody.

Recently, the entrance/exit portion of the new road was cut into the southbound sidewalk with the help of community transportation funds from Speaker of the House Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth, and Sen. Ernie Lopez, R-Lewes. Schwartzkopf estimated he contributed at least $40,000 to the project. The remainder of the project will be paid for by Wawa.

Schwartzkopf said this project has been on his radar for years, and he was glad that it’s finally getting done.

Lopez said getting to the point of construction was tedious because of the businesses involved and land issues. He said he was more than pleased to use a significant portion of his community transportation funds on the project. It’s something that taxpayers can agree is a good use of tax dollars, he said.

Hyle said he appreciated the work done by the legislators.

“I speak for all residents of the Rolling Meadows community in a special thanks to Pete Schwartzkopf and Ernie Lopez for their diligence and perseverance in finally making the second exit/entrance road for Wawa a reality,” he said.