Five Points changes not expected anytime soon

Orange cones and detours are imminent on roads around the Five Points area in the coming years as the Department of Transportation is set to beginning major projects in the Lewes area. But until those projects are complete, little is planned for the Five Points intersection.

DelDOT Deputy Secretary Shante Hastings says she’s often asked why nothing is happening to improve the Five Points intersection, which is often backed up with vehicles blocking travel lanes due in part to the nearby Route 9 intersection with Beaver Dam Road and Plantation Road, commonly known to locals as Malfunction Junction.

Several small projects have occurred in the area to improve flow at Five Points, Hastings said, and upcoming major projects could help with the overall traffic situation.

“If we just went in and built a bridge … you’re still going to have the congestion at all of the other places around the Five Points intersection,” Hastings said at the Oct. 25 virtual meeting of the Five Points Working Group. “We’re really trying to take care of those pieces of congestion first and see then what’s needed at the intersection itself.”

In 2008, a DelDOT study provided six options for a grade separated intersection - overpass - at Five Points. DelDOT suspended the study after it could not garner enough support for any design.

“This is a very important intersection, but a huge part of what DelDOT does is public involvement,” Hastings said. “We can’t move forward with something when there’s so much opposition to it. Frankly, there are so many needs throughout the state that we can’t put effort on something that people don’t want.”

Now 13 years later, a study is not likely to occur again for many more years. The state is preparing to begin a project at Malfunction Junction in spring 2022, a project to realign Old Orchard Road at Wescoats Corner in fall 2022 and a grade-separated intersection at Minos Conaway Road and Nassau bridge in fall 2023. Each project will take several years to complete and are part of the state’s commitment of $1.3 billion over the next six years in transportation improvements in Sussex County.

Once those projects are done, Hastings said, DelDOT will have a clearer picture on how traffic moves through the area.

Other DelDOT projects near Five Points under consideration include a new road connecting Route 9 with Route 24 via Mulberry Knoll Road, parallel to Plantation Road and Route 1 and widening of Route 9 from Old Vine Boulevard, just west of Nassau Valley Vineyards, to Route 1 at the Five Points intersection.

In the years since the 2008 study, the state has purchased land around Five Points in preparation for use one day in the future. Those include the Ace Hardware and adjacent Nassau School properties and the open land beyond the T at the Route 9/Beaver Dam Road/Plantation Road. Some of those parcels will be used as part of the Malfunction Junction project, which includes a new roundabout in the open land adjacent to the Henlopen Landing community. 

Hastings highlighted recent changes to the Five Points intersection that she believes has improved flow. In 2020, DelDOT changed signage and added pavement markings to direct motorists into the proper lane as they approach Malfunction Junction from the northbound turn lanes on Route 1 and the westbound lanes on Route 9.

“The times I’ve driven through, it seems like people are following it for the most part,” Hastings said. “I think it helps people understand which lane they need to be in.”

Once the Malfunction Junction project is complete in 2023, Hastings said she believes traffic will move much easier through that tricky location.

Traffic stats

DelDOT consultant Todd Oliver, with Whitman Requardt Associates, said the Five Points intersection’s level of service is considered near failing or failing depending on the time of year.

The existing traffic signal at Five Points operates based on traffic demand. At any given point over a 24-hour period, that traffic signal cycle could vary from 90 seconds up to 150 seconds, Oliver said.

“DelDOT Traffic continually monitors this intersection, and we look at signal phasing changes that could be implemented periodically, whether they're temporary or permanent related to seasonal fluctuations in traffic, special events, and also things like crashes that could affect traffic operations,” Oliver said.

The most recent traffic data is from March 2021, which was collected in preparation for the Minos Conaway Road project. A car at Five Points during the average weekday morning and afternoon peak, Friday evening peak or Saturday afternoon peak typically waits about 60 seconds, which equates to a level of service rating of E. Oliver noted it’s at the higher end of E, closer to D than F.

Level of service declines in the summer, though. Wait times at the Five Points intersection grow significantly during the peak times in the summer months, varying between 103 and 121 seconds per vehicle during the week and up to 182 seconds on Friday evenings, nearly triple the average off-season time. All equate to a failing level of service, Oliver said.

In addition to analyzing traffic operational information, Oliver said his team also looked at crash data over the most recent three-year period. There were a total of 95 reported crashes at Five Points, 12 of which involved injuries. Oliver said 75 of the 95 crashes were rear-end crashes. The most common place at Five Points for crashes occurred in the Route 1 northbound through lanes and left-turn lanes, with 38 reported crashes.

At Malfunction Junction, there were 44 reported crashes in the three-year study period. Seven of those crashes involved an injury, and 26 of the 44 were rear-end crashes. Westbound Route 9 was the most common place for crashes, accounting for 25 of the total crashes at the intersection.

Five Points was last studied as part of the statewide Hazard Elimination Program in 2010. In 2017, red light photo enforcement was installed, resulting in a 36 percent reduction in angle crashes, which tend to be more severe, Oliver said.

What’s next

A major project at the Five Points intersection is not in DelDOT’s plans in the near future. When the time is right, Hastings said DelDOT will begin the process of studying the need, feasibility, environmental and cultural impacts and potential affect on traffic the area’s traffic flow.

“We don’t have anything programmed at this time for a Five Points grade-separated intersection study,” she said. “Our plan is to really allow some of these other projects to move forward.”

The presentation to the Five Points Working Group can be found at https://bit.ly/3Cn4szY. For more information on any DelDOT project, go to https://deldot.gov/projects/.