Phase 2 of DelDOT’s Park Avenue project nears

As bids are ready for submittal for Phase 1 of the Park Avenue project, DelDOT officials are beginning the preliminary steps to start Phase 2, costing $21 million, to improve the Route 9 truck bypass route around Georgetown. Trucks and tractor-trailers, except for local deliveries, are not permitted within the town limits of Georgetown.

When totally completed, the two-phase, nearly $40 million project will provide a direct connection from Route 9 east of Georgetown to Route 113 just south of Georgetown with widened lanes and shoulders, improved intersections, better drainage and an improved railroad crossing with trail access. The existing road has 11-foot travel lanes and two-foot shoulders, which will be widened to 12-foot travel lanes and 10-foot shoulders.

The Phase 2 schedule is as follows: rights of way acquisition, fall 2021 to spring 2023; utility relocation, fall 2022; construction 2023 to 2025.

Phase 2 work – from Route 9 to the area of Wood Branch Road – will include 12-foot travel lanes and 10-foot shoulders, new turn lanes at all intersections, an improved S-curve configuration east of Wood Branch Road, regraded stormwater swales, and construction of new stormwater management facilities and a new outfall ditch to improve drainage north of the railroad crossing to Route 9.

Also included will be railroad crossing improvements with a new crosswalk to access the Lewes-to-Georgetown Trail.

During an Oct. 13 virtual workshop, several residents asked questions about rights-of-way purchases along Park Avenue. With the road widening, several properties will be impacted, including some with septic systems or wells in their front yards. DelDOT officials said as the rights-of-way process starts, property owners will have the chance to get more information. They said funds would be available for relocation of systems as part of the process. If room is not available on a property for relocation, a property could be purchased. Officials said 34 properties will be impacted during Phase 1 and another 84 properties will be impacted during Phase 2.

Phase 2 also includes several intersection upgrades, including a major reconfiguration of the Route 9-Park Avenue and Route 9-Shingle Point Road intersections. The existing Route 9 traffic signal will be upgraded with new right- and left-turn lanes onto Park Avenue and Shingle Point Road.

Cedar Lane – Removal of a portion of the road between Park Avenue and Wood Branch Road.

Wood Branch Road – Realignment of the road to improve the intersection at Park Avenue and maintain access to existing houses on the east side of the road.

Springfield Road – New right- and left-turn lanes onto Park Avenue.

Phase 1 – from Route 113, along Arrow Safety Road and South Bedford Street to Wood Branch Road – includes a new intersection at Route 113 and Arrow Safety Road, a roundabout at the South Bedford Street-Arrow Safety Road-Park Avenue junction and a new section of Park Avenue west of Cedar Lane to align with the intersection. Construction is scheduled from 2021 to 2023.

Questions on the project can be emailed to Edwin Robles at edwin.robles@delaware.gov. The project website is deldot.gov/projects/index.shtml?dc=details&projectNumber=T201904601.