Kings Highway construction frustrates businesses, drivers

Mark Chura is frustrated by the long lines of cars stopped outside his business on Kings Highway.

The vehicles are waiting to get past road construction that has reduced one of the main gateways to Lewes to a one-lane road during the day.

Crews alternate traffic flow east- and westbound, leaving drivers to sit and wait.

Chura, who owns the Brush Factory on Kings, fears the delays are keeping customers away.

“It’s disrespectful to our community,” Chura said. “It has not been communicated, and there’s no sense of this time of year and the amount of people down here.”

Scott Garner, operations manager at Big Oyster Brewery, said the daily backups are affecting their bottom line.

“Our lunch and happy hour sales are down about 30% for December. Most has happened in the last two weeks, which is usually a very busy time,” he said.

C.R. McLeod, Delaware Department of Transportation director of communications, said the project is related to the new Mitchell’s Corner development.

Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission approved the work in August, and construction began in the fall, initially taking place at night.

Chura said the timing of the work is the issue.

He said the traffic trouble began when DelDOT shifted the work to the middle of the day, right before Cape Henlopen High School let out for holiday break.

“All of a sudden, they were here during the day, just as we were getting up to the Christmas season,” he said. “To my knowledge, nobody in the city was notified. Certainly, nobody on Kings Highway was notified.”

McLeod said the shift was due to the colder weather.

“The current work could no longer be performed in the overnight hours as of early December because of temperatures, and as a result, there are delays while the work is taking place during daytime hours. The work could also not be delayed until the spring due to the condition of the road,” McLeod said.

McLeod said, as part of the approval, DelDOT required interim improvements, which the developer agreed to build.

He said those improvements include two 11-foot, southbound through lanes at the Kings Highway-Gills Neck Road intersection, a right-turn-only lane at Kings and Clay Road, and a shared-use path.

“These improvements will benefit all transportation users in the area,” McLeod said. He said the project is expected to be finished in early January.

Lewes Deputy Mayor Khalil Saliba said the city is trying to avoid facing a similar situation in the future.

“The traffic jams were unfortunate, particularly during a busy time for our local businesses. We are working to ensure better coordination in the future will allow everyone to prepare for upcoming road projects,” Saliba said.

Chura said he is concerned the work being done now will have to be torn out when the larger Route 9 improvement project begins in the next few years.

That plan includes building five roundabouts from Dartmouth Drive to the Kings Highway-Freeman Highway split.

“I think this clearly demonstrates that there is way too much traffic on this road to be thinking that you’re going to build five roundabouts,” Chura said.