HAWK system ready to fly

A pedestrian safety system known as a HAWK Signal – short for high-intensity activated crosswalk – is poised for installation at two locations along Route 1.

HAWK signals stay dark until a pedestrian pushes a button to cross. When activated, lights flash yellow and then red while the pedestrian crosses, said Sarah E. Criswell, area engineer for the Route 1 construction. One signal will be installed near the Tanger Outlets and Holland Glade Road and another will be installed near Applied Bank, she said.

Each of the $140,000 systems is designed to give pedestrians a safe way to cross Route 1, she said.

Depending on which side of the highway a pedestrian is standing, lights will activate to stop traffic along the closest lanes so that the person can cross into the median. Once in the median, Criswell said, a pedestrian then presses a second button to stop traffic and continue crossing to the other side.

“The beacon reverts back to the dark condition after the pedestrian clearance interval ends,” Criswell said.

She said construction for the HAWK Signal at the existing light on Route 1 and Rehoboth Avenue extended is slated to begin before the end of July and finish in August. Construction for the Holland Glade HAWK signal should begin in August and be completed in November. This schedule is subject to modifications as site conditions and circumstances change, Criswell said.

Of all the safety improvements scheduled for the resort corridor, Speaker of the House Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, said he is most interested in the new pedestrian crossing system.

“I'm excited to see how it works,” Schwartzkopf said, leaving open the possibility that another HAWK signal could be installed in the Forgotten Mile if the first two are a success.

Schwartzkopf led the Route 1 Safety Task Force that completed a 2014 report with safety suggestions for Route 1. The suggestions resulted in a $14.4 million project now underway for new sidewalks and crosswalks on Route 1 north of the Forgotten Mile.

Despite mention of safety improvements for the Forgotten Mile during task force meetings, the task force decided to limit improvements north of the stretch of road nestled between Rehoboth canal and Dewey Beach.

There are no plans to reconvene a task force to focus only on improvements to the Forgotten Mile, Schwartzkopf said, but he remains open to further discussions about it.

He said cost is the main reason safety improvements are concentrated north of the Forgotten Mile, where more people cross Route 1 on their way to outlet stores or restaurants.

“We need better lighting down there but it comes down to funding,” he said.

Schwartzkopf acknowledged a new $26 million overpass at Thompsonville Road and Route 1 north of Milford may seem like a lot of money for the Milford area, which already has three other overpasses, but, he said, the latest overpass was eight years in the making and will solve backups along that stretch of Route 1.

“We're trying to get all traffic lights off of Route 1,” he said, referring to the Route 1 corridor north of the resort area.

Safety improvements continue

Cars and construction barrels now mingle more than ever along the busy stretch of Route 1 during the resort area's busiest time of year.

“In hindsight, I didn't realize that it would take a year and a half to finish this,” Schwartzkopf said. “But I'm glad they are working at night now.”

Construction has been slowed by unmarked utility lines underneath existing roadway and pavement.

“They're finding a lot that they didn't know were there,” Schwartzkopf said.

When that happens, work stops until the utility companies resolve the situation and workers for the Route 1 safety project move to another section of highway, he said.

Schwartzkopf said if they could start over, he would have required improvements begin at the Route 1 entrance to Rehoboth and move north.

Resident: Don't forget about Forgotten Mile

Every time Karen Zakarian hears about a serious pedestrian accident on Route 1, the memories return.

In early June, she was again reminded of the 2013 crash that killed her brother Gary as he crossed Route 1 in the Forgotten Mile. This time, it was a 19-year-old Ukrainian girl who died while riding her bicycle across Route 1, a few miles north of where Zakarian's brother was killed.

“We entice people to come, invite them to stay, encourage them to bike and walk, and then we don't offer them a way to do it safely,” Zakarian said.

In 2013 and 2014, Zakarian and her father were active participants in the Route 1 Safety Task Force meetings. Zakarian said she also attended a Walkable, Bikeable Delaware meeting to ask officials keep focus on the Forgotten Mile. When task force members decided to stop Route 1 safety improvements at the Route 1 canal bridge, Zakarian said, she was quick to remind members that safety should include the Forgotten Mile south of the bridge. At one point, she said, there was talk of installing a traffic light near the Valero gas station where her brother was struck, but that idea was abandoned.

“The first anniversary of my brother's death passed, and nothing had been done,” she said.

Zakarian said she would like to see the same successful safety precautions that have been installed and enforced in Dewey Beach extend north to the Forgotten Mile. Dewey Beach has lighted sidewalks, more crosswalks and a slower speed limit.

“You can seen people put their brakes on as soon as they enter Dewey,” she said. “The idea is why we don't have that for the Forgotten Mile. Once again, that mile is completely forgotten.”

Speaker of the House Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, who led the Route 1 Safety Task Force, said it's not that simple. The Forgotten Mile is an unincorporated area north of Dewey Beach; Town of Dewey Beach has a neighborhood designation, which sets a 30 mph speed limit there, enforced by police. “That area is not a neighborhood area,” Schwartzkopf said, referring to the Forgotten Mile.

Still, Prem Chatani, whose son Deepak died in 2013 while walking his bicycle on Route 1, said lowering the speed limit would be a simple solution to prevent future senseless tragedy.

“It's common sense that you need to slow down,” he said. “Nobody's doing 45 mph. They're all going 50 to 60.”

Years ago, when Midway Shopping Center was the resort area's northernmost shopping center on Route 1, Chatani said, everyone knew to drop their speed to 35 or else they risked getting a traffic ticket.

“It was a speed trap,” he said.

Off season, the speed would increase to 55 mph for the locals, Chatani said.

Schwartkopf said he was a Delaware State Police trooper when seasonal speed limits were used on Route 1. He said he participated in a Route 1 committee in the 1990s when Delaware Department of Transportation officials discontinued speed limits.

“They decided to split the baby and leave it at 45,” he said.

In a 2013 discussions about Route 1 safety, former DelDOT Secretary Shailen Bhatt said lower speed limits are not safer because there is a bigger discrepancy in travelling speeds. A DelDOT project coordinator cited national studies that show crash rates increase when speed limits are lower than they should be. Three studies in 2013 showed fewer accidents happen at 52 mph, DelDOT officials said.