LITTLE CREEK, DE— The Dover/Kent County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) has finalized a study examining traffic and pedestrian safety in Little Creek, recommending measures to calm traffic and reduce risks for drivers and pedestrians alike.
Speeding concerns in Little Creek have been ongoing for years, with many neighbors and town leaders raising alarms and looking for solutions to slow traffic.
Darla Courtney, a longtime Little Creek neighbor, says the speeding problem is not new but has become increasingly worse, especially as recent toll increases in Delaware have led many drivers to use Little Creek as a shortcut.
"The speeding just never stops. It's constant, constant. And it's out-of-staters. It's trucks."
Courtney added that walking in Little Creek can be just as dangerous as driving, with few sidewalks or crosswalks to protect pedestrians.
"We do not walk over there just because the cars, the way they fly coming up here — they could hit the sidewalk."
Marty Martens, another Little Creek neighbor, says the lack of safety infrastructure has put everyone at risk and is a problem that can no longer be ignored.
"Everybody here has pets. There are small children here. So it's really dangerous because people fly through here."
These concerns prompted the Dover/Kent MPO to launch a Sidewalk & Crosswalk Improvements study.
Malcolm Jacob, an MPO planner who conducted the Little Creek study, explained the project's scope.
"We started the study last summer. Mayor Strouse from Little Creek came to us and said he'd like to have an inventory of sidewalks and crosswalks in town."
Jacob added that as the MPO gathered public feedback, the study's focus expanded to include speeding concerns, since that was the majority of what residents wanted addressed.
"We started with that and sort of expanded because as we spoke to people, they told us there's a speeding problem in town."
After analyzing traffic patterns and pedestrian risks, the MPO suggested several potential solutions, including crosswalks to calm traffic and rumble strips.
"We'd like to see some things, such as crosswalks that passively calm traffic or let people know, 'Hey, this is a downtown. People walk here.' We also recommend rumble strips, which might have less of an impact on vehicles than speed bumps."
Neighbors like Courtney say action is long overdue.
"I'm glad that they did this study because it's really obvious that we need something here."
Martens says that while improvements like crosswalks and rumble strips may help, stronger enforcement may also be necessary.
"Rumble strips would be good. I also think of possibly posting a police officer right outside our city limits."
Courtney, who says the traffic-calming measures suggested by the MPO are a step in the right direction, believes strong enforcement and speed cameras would be the most effective way to end speeding.
"I would really like to see more cop presence. Maybe a speed camera. So that people know that you can't fly through here. It is 25 mph. There are a lot of kids and a lot of animals. People are always out, and I think being over 25 is too fast."
Little Creek has no local police department and relies on the Delaware State Police for enforcement. Earlier this summer, the town explored hiring officers to monitor the speed limit, but the state police raised their hourly rate from $99 to $140 starting July 13, making it cost-prohibitive.
Jacob says this is why the MPO is prioritizing more practical solutions for the town, like adding crosswalks and other measures to slow traffic.
"We want to recommend some solutions that might be more feasible for the town, things that go in the roadway and maybe just either calm traffic, passively, or if they have some kind of impact, like rumble strips."
While the MPO has considered speed cameras, Jacob noted practical challenges.
"We did look at speed cameras, and we've been speaking to some people from DELDOT. One of the challenges is that it hasn't been done much outside of work zones or roads with a high traffic volume."
DELDOT told WBOC that it plans to install an all-way stop at South Little Creek Road and Bayside Drive this fall.
When WBOC contacted DELDOT today about the MPO's recommendations, DELDOT said it could not comment because it had not yet reviewed the full report.