Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) personnel are closing on a final design for a limited access Route 113 and presented a more digestible list of alternatives for the Millsboro/South area on Oct. 18.
Coastal Point • SAM HARVEY:
DelDOT officials explain the narrowed field of Route 113 bypass options at an Oct. 13 workshop in Millsboro.
Interested members of the public wandered around the Millsboro Fire Hall, studying proposed bypasses for Millsboro, Dagsboro, Frankford and Selbyville.
As some of those in attendance Oct. 18 pointed out, there didn’t seem to be much need for those bypasses. However, DelDOT’s Mike Williams pointed out shaded areas within or bordering the towns.
“We have to look at the potential, cumulative effect from the growth areas shown on the towns’ comprehensive plans,” he said, noting various residential projects about to break ground in those areas.
As for the county land in between — he exhaled a breath — growth there was apparently harder to plan for.
“The county’s an independent body, with home rule, just like the towns, and has a state-approved (comprehensive) plan, which they have to follow,” Williams said. “But when the county approves a project like (Bayside), in a remote area off Route 54 — the county doesn’t face the long-term financial impacts after build-out,” Williams said.
Because Delaware is small, greater local responsibility has never been a problem, historically, but in recent years, Williams suggested, the lack of a county-level transportation authority may have aggravated what has become a major funding crunch at the state’s Transportation Trust Fund this year.
“But we’re very lucky to be able to step up and do this long-term plan for Route 113 now,” Williams added.
DelDOT was working an accelerated design schedule, compressing the typical five- to seven-year process into three years, he said — but even so, Williams said he expected it would be another 10 to 15 years before actual construction commenced.
He compared the project to Route 1, on two counts — first, the timeline (roughly 20 years for completion) and second, the cost ($900 million).
However, as Williams was quick to point out, they’d proceeded from day one with an eye on the lessons they’d learned on Route 1 south of the Five Points (Lewes), where DelDOT had decided against options like service roads or elevated lanes and now couldn’t wish them back into the design.
“Here, the idea is to let Route 113 remain the local road,” he said, with the limited-access portions serving primarily through-traffic.
Dagsboro-area resident Lee Derrickson said he liked the east-side bypasses around Millsboro, although both he and his wife, Teresa, had concerns about environmental impacts.
“I don’t want my eagles disturbed,” she said, referring to the bald eagle population along the Indian River.
But Derrickson suspected moving traffic to the west wouldn’t accomplish much – people would be turning onto an east-west road as soon as they crossed one, he pointed out, bringing the bypassed traffic right back through the local towns.
Millsboro resident Paul Sturgis was taken aback at the $900 million price tag, and puzzled by the limited access, non-limited access combination. He agreed the bypasses could help.
“The problem we’re having is the people going to Maryland, or down to Chincoteague or Pocomoke (Va.),” Sturgis said. “We need to get rid of those people.”
But as far as traffic headed toward local beaches, he didn’t think the bypasses would do much to alleviate local bottlenecks until the state addressed east-west roads.
“There are only four roads that go to the beach, so you’re still going to have back-ups,” he said. “It doesn’t make much sense to do this, until you get those roads fixed.”
His wife, Bonnie, recognized more traffic was on the way, but at least for now, she said, things weren’t too bad. “Two hours on Saturday, two hours on Sunday — after that, it’s fine,” she said.
She did have some criticisms about DelDOT surveyors wandering around her neighborhood without introducing themselves at front doors, but Williams said it was the first complaint he’d received so far.
He reminded everyone there would be surveyors out, at least until the weather turned, and said the department had done its best to warn everyone they’d be coming by.
In this stage of project development, DelDOT will be looking for cultural and archaeological resources, which might further narrow alternatives for what will one day become a limited-access Route 113.
The department is looking at various combinations: swinging the main traffic flow either to the east (but not an option at Selbyville) or to the west, or in one instance (through Millsboro), possibly making improvements on alignment.
The on-alignment variant is a new alternative, based on public input. For east-side bypasses, DelDOT cites avoidance of impacts on Pepper and Vines creeks, and relatively low resource and property impacts as recommendations.
All variations shear away from Route 113 north of Millsboro, intersecting with Route 24 east of Mountaire Farms poultry processing facility, crossing the Indian River and re-entering the existing corridor either (1) between Millsboro and Dagsboro, (2) between Dagsboro and Frankford or (3) south of Frankford.
DelDOT retained six east-side combinations, but just three on the west side. There again, bypasses shear away from Route 113 north of Millsboro, crossing Route 20 and then either (1) returning to existing corridor on a tight curve, near Millsboro’s south border or (2) meandering southward to rejoin between Dagsboro and Frankford. The third alternative is a tight crescent around Selbyville.
For more information, visit the Web site at www.deldot.gov, then click Projects, then US 113 North/South Study.