DelDOT continues work on Five Points recommendations

More than half of the Five Points Working Group's 78 recommendations are either complete or are in progress.

Consultant Jeff Riegner with Kramer & Associates detailed accomplishments on the working group's recommendations and Delaware Department of Transportation projects during a Jan. 27 meeting at Beacon Middle School near Lewes.

Riegner said 42 recommendations are moving forward. The original working group first met in December 2017; a Phase 2 group was appointed in late 2018.

Working group member the Rev. Wendell Hall asked when work would take place to upgrade the Five Points intersection.

Riegner said construction of a grade-separated interchange is not a small undertaking. “It could be years down the road. It's a long-term project because of the cost and huge impact on private properties,” he said. “There is a lot of work being done to relieve pressure on Five Points. We will need to identify that impact first.”

“This is critical. We need a little relief now,” Hall said.

Grade-separated interchange projects are planned along Route 1 at the Route 16, Cave Neck Road and Minos Conaway intersections.

Turn lanes – Among the key initiatives in 2020, DelDOT officials have asked the group to prioritize where lengthening right- and left-turn lanes would improve safety and traffic flow. “There are several hundred in the study area. We would like to get priority locations from the group,” Riegner said.

He said everyone agrees that the northbound Route 1 left-turn lane onto Cave Neck Road is at the top of the list.

Other turn lanes under consideration are Route 1 southbound left-turn lanes at Ames Drive near Rehoboth; at Dartmouth Drive near Lewes; and at Nassau Road to New Road near Lewes; and the right-turn lane from Kings Highway onto Clay Road near Lewes.

“Some of these could be seen as minor fixes,” Riegner said, but others could turn into major projects due to utility relocation and rights of way purchases.

Savannah Road – Riegner said a plan to restripe Savannah Road in Lewes to allow for left-turn lanes would not work as recommended. “The shoulders are not as thick as the road, and they would not hold up to the additional traffic. It would be a capital project. It's impossible to just restripe,” he said.

Riegner said developers may be providing funding for upgrades to part of Savannah Road in the near future.

Old Orchard Road – Working group member Carol Kohr said a comprehensive plan is needed for Old Orchard Road, to include traffic-calming measures, lane widening with sidewalks and a bike/pedestrian lane, a lower speed limit and warning measures for the Lewes-to-Georgetown Trail crossing on the road.

During the public comment period, Villages of Five Points resident Bob Viscount agreed with her comments.

He said Old Orchard Road needs a master plan that reflects the changes impacting the road over the past three years, including the Minos Conaway interchange project, bike trail crossing and development of a 27-acre tract, including an assisted-living facility and offices, adding to the traffic issues on the road.

“This was not addressed in the Old Orchard Road realignment project. You can't ignore Old Orchard as a connector road,” Viscount said.

Riegner said many of these concerns will be addressed in an upcoming Old Orchard Road project with a workshop scheduled this spring.

Signs and signals – DelDOT is planning to add more variable-message signs this year starting in Milford on southbound Route 1, encouraging motorists to use Route 113 or other roads for destinations outside the Route 1 corridor from Lewes to Dewey Beach. The signs will display travel times to beach destinations.

Riegner said DelDOT officials also plan to use signs this year to alert beachgoers when parking lots at Cape Henlopen State Park are full.

Sussex County Tourism and resort municipalities are taking the lead on improved tourism-oriented signage along Route 1.

Riegner said new traffic signal hardware and new equipment should help get traffic signals back in sync faster when signals are tripped by emergency vehicles. In addition, he said, DelDOT officials are improving signal phasing, timing and coordination using real-time monitoring and control technology.

Working group member and House Speaker Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, said getting signals back in coordination is one of the main problems in the Route 1 corridor.

2020 plans

DelDOT officials say 2020 plans include:

• Identify possible pedestrian/bicycle connections to and from the Lewes Transit Center.

• A project this spring lengthening the Route 1 southbound acceleration lane at Minos Conaway Road.

• Studying potential connections along Route 1 between businesses, with a possible connection from Route 1 to Lowe's at Five Points.

• Identify costs and benefits to convert Nassau Commons Boulevard from a private to a public road as a connector from Route 9 to Route 1.

• Completing the New Road master plan and publishing a 2019 Five Points Transportation Study annual report.

• Continuing to study the feasibility of a hop-on, hop-off van or jitney loop for Lewes.

• Studying ways to eliminate additional unsignalized Route 1 crossovers, including those between Five Points and Route 24.

Project updates

Lewes-to-Georgetown Trail Phase 2 work later in 2020.

Realignment of Old Orchard Road at Wescoats Road, construction 2022-2024.

Plantation Road widening and improvements, construction 2022-2023.

Route 1-Minos Conaway interchange, construction 2023-2025.

Junction and Breakwater Trail extension in Rehoboth Beach in 2020.

Lewes drawbridge and Route 1 canal bridge in Rehoboth Beach in 2020.

Working group member D.J. Hughes asked if DelDOT officials could expedite a project to improve the Cave Neck Road-Hudson Road-Sweetbriar Road intersection, which is not scheduled for construction until 2027 or 2028. Hughes said growth near the intersection, including the addition of two new subdivisions, and the opening of the new Sussex Consortium, which includes a relocation of the Cape Henlopen School District bus depot from Kings Highway, will only increase traffic issues.

Go to deldot.gov/projects/Studies/fivepointsphase2 for more information.