Five Points group seeks answers on congestion

Studies have confirmed what most Cape Region residents already know – traffic is getting worse.

What used to be a seasonal headache is now a year-round problem. Off-season traffic counts are still lower than summer traffic, but the gap is narrowing.

Over the last five years, the total number of cars on the road during the off season has crept closer to the lower end of summer traffic numbers, indicative of a year-round community, said Matt Buckley, Whitman Requardt and Associates. 

“We’ve seen an increase in rear-end crashes,” Buckley said. “We’ve also seen an increase in angle or T-bone crashes.” 

Most crashes occur in the summer months, specifically on Fridays and Saturdays, he said, but crash frequency is rising on Mondays and Thursdays too. 

“It’s getting busier and busier,” he said. 

In the last five years, he said, there have been 351 accidents near the Five Points intersection, and 561 more Route 1 accidents between Postal Lane and Route 24. 

The Five Points Working Group continued exploring the transportation needs of the Route 1 corridor near Lewes Jan. 22, spending two hours at the Virden Center discussing past studies and existing traffic trends in the stretch from the Nassau bridge to Route 24.

While Five Points has its problems, Buckley said, it’s unfairly blamed for problems caused elsewhere on the Route 1 corridor. 

“It’s an easy target,” he said. “The corridor ebbs and flows. Some days the problem is closer up near Five Points, but other days the problem wiggles down toward Rehoboth Avenue.”

In terms of congestion, he said, the stretch from Route 24 to Rehoboth Avenue is statistically worse than Five Points to Route 24. 

But that doesn’t mean changes to the Five Points area won’t make major strides in solving the traffic issues of the entire Cape Region. 

Andrew Bing of WRA, facilitator of the Five Points meetings, told the 16-member panel to think big. Since the group is still in the early stages of its overview, he said, members should not take anything off the table. The end goal, he said, is to develop a chart describing problems and ideas to solve the issues, including short-, medium, and long-term recommendations. 

Thinking outside the box, DJ Hughes, a traffic engineer with Davis, Bowen and Friedel, said the state could consider using the 66-foot right of way it owns for the recently decommissioned railroad from Lewes to Cool Spring and create a new road. 

Christian Hudson, a local business owner, said the transportation needs for the Five Points area include increasing capacity and bicycle and pedestrian access across Route 1, while decreasing existing traffic by offering alternate routes to decrease travel times. 

Lloyd Schmitz, a visually impaired pedestrian and public transportation user, said the state should divert drivers off Route 1 before they reach Five Points. 

“There is not going to be a red light from I-95 down [south],” he said. “I think we need to slow them down before they get here and give them some options to get off Route 1.” 

Ann Marie Townshend, Lewes city manager, agreed that fewer motorists traveling through Five Points toward Route 24 could ease traffic woes. With so much development occurring in the Long Neck area, she said, it may be time to consider a new road to take traffic directly there. 

Sussex County Councilman IG Burton, R-Lewes, also suggested the state should consider new roads.

“What [Five Points] was designed to do, we’ve outgrown that,” he said. “We’ve got to look at new roads. We can’t fix this with the current roads.” 

He said Dover had a similar problem. The solution was a limited-access highway, he said.  

Dennis Forney, a Lewes resident and publisher of the Cape Gazette, said more clarity is needed as to how traffic is expected to flow. He said the Five Points area has been injected with a whole lot of confusion and that leads to people taking chances, resulting in more crashes. 

Sussex County Councilman George Cole, R-Ocean View, asked DelDOT’s planners and consultants to show him some options for Five Points. He said it might be easier to work with a conceptual idea rather than develop something from scratch. 

“There are only so many things we can do,” he said. “Gridlock does move, but how can we make it move a little faster? There need to be priorities, and we need to be realistic.” 

There are several projects in the works in the vicinity of Five Points, with three public workshops scheduled in February. Two workshops will be held from 4 to 7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 15, at Cape Henlopen High School: one to discuss a proposed overpass at Route 1 and Minos Conaway Road and another about improvements to Plantation Road. Then from 4 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 21, at Cape Henlopen High School, a workshop will be held on the realignment of Old Orchard Road. 

The next Five Points Working Group meeting is scheduled at 6 p.m., Monday, Feb. 26, at a location to be determined. The group is expected to continue discussing transportation needs at the February meeting. Public comment is permitted at the end of the meetings.