Milton council approves resolution for all-way stops

Milton Town Council, in a pair of 5-1 votes, passed resolutions requesting the Delaware Department of Transportation to implement all-way stops at the intersections of Chestnut/Wharton/Atlantic streets and Federal/Mulberry/Wharton streets. 

At council’s May 6 meeting, the measure had generally favorable public support with the main objections coming from Milton Fire Department, which is concerned that having an all-way stop at those intersections will hamper emergency response time. 

Plans for all-way stops at these two intersections have been discussed for some time and divided the council in late 2022/early 2023. Originally, plans for all-way stops at the intersections were part of larger improvement projects that added new crosswalks, curb cuts and handicapped-accessible ramps. The projects were funded by a $310,000 grant from Sussex County, part of a distribution of excess transfer taxes the county gave back to municipalities. 

An all-way stop at the intersection at Chestnut/Wharton/Atlantic has been discussed by town officials for years, while changes to the intersection of Federal/Mulberry/Wharton were recommended by DelDOT as part of its traffic-impact study related to the Granary at Draper Farm development. In October 2022, council voted unanimously to move forward with the improvements at Chestnut/Wharton/Atlantic, which included all-way stops. Improvements to Mulberry/Federal/Wharton passed 6-1, with Councilman Fred Harvey the only no vote. 

DelDOT asked the council to submit its request in the form of a resolution, which passed for both projects in March 2023. However, the next month, when council needed to ratify the resolutions to make them official, council was deadlocked 3-3, with then-Councilwoman Annette Babich absent. The all-way stop portion of the project was the main bone of contention, with the argument against being that an all-way stop would negatively affect emergency response time and that the town has not conducted engineering studies that would confirm whether an all-way stop was needed. To avoid losing the county funding, council stripped the all-way stop provisions out of the project and moved forward with just intersection improvements, which were completed in late 2023.

Since then, DelDOT has told town officials that an investigation would be sufficient to make a request for an all-way stop. That investigation was done and DelDOT made a presentation in April indicating the department favors all-way stops as a traffic-calming measure. That led Mayor John Collier to put the resolutions back on the agenda.

Among those who spoke in favor of the resolutions were Cathy and Heather Rion Starr, who brought their children – and their homemade signs – along to detail their experiences of close calls with cars at the Chestnut/Wharton/Atlantic street intersection, which Heather described as confusing and dangerous for pedestrians. 

Al Benson of Collins Street said the all-way stop at Chestnut/Wharton/Atlantic streets is necessary because the sight lines for drivers at the intersection are not good and the area is dangerous for children who cross that intersection coming back from Milton Elementary School. Milton residents Steve Crawford and Bruce Elliott also said they supported the resolutions.

Fire Chief Johnny Hopkins said while he did not think the department and council were far apart on the issue, as he is in favor of improving safety, he believed council was rushing the resolutions through and would rather see a workshop meeting to hash out details. 

D.J. Hughes, also a member of the fire department and a traffic engineer by trade, said there have been no traffic engineering studies done on either intersection. He said council was putting the cart before the horse, and that crash data from DelDOT does not show the intersections are a major safety hazard. 

Both resolutions passed by 5-1 margins with Harvey remaining the only no vote. Vice Mayor Lee Revis-Plank, who previously voted against the resolutions, was out of the country and unable to cast a vote. 

Councilwoman Randi Meredith, who sponsored the resolutions the first time, said the all-way stops, especially at Chestnut/Wharton/Atlantic streets, would help everyone by making the intersections safer. 

Councilman Larry Savage said he was convinced by DelDOT’s presentation in April favoring all-way stops and by citizen comments. Councilman Scotty Edler said he's had a number of close calls at Chestnut/Wharton/Atlantic streets and wanted to see the intersection made safer. 

“I think it's time to at least explore this further, push it to the next level and see what the State of Delaware has to say,” Edler said.