LEWES, DE -- The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) recently presented updated plans to widen and add five roundabouts to Kings Highway, gaining support from some and raising concerns for many.
According to the plan, the four of the five roundabouts would be built at the existing intersections of Dartmouth Drive, Clay Road, Gills Neck Road-Cape Henlopen High School and Freeman Highway. The fifth roundabout would be installed at the future intersection at The Lodge at Historic Lewes and the soon-to-be-built Mitchell’s Corner community.
Plans also include sidewalks, a landscape median, stormwater management, crosswalks, and traffic signal removal.
Mark Chura has owned The Brush Factory on Kings for seven years. With plenty of traffic passing by, the store is often busy. But, Chura says the addition of roundabouts and a landscape median preventing cars from turning into his business will jeopardize its success and others'.
"We are the collateral damage," says Chura. "We are cutoff. We are hidden by plants and stormwater management and we need help. "It's going to cause a huge problem for the people who live in this area, the people who work in this area, and our entire community because folks are not going to want to deal with this for years. They are going to want to get to the beach going through the center of town. So everybody in Lewes is affected."
Chura says he has been in conversation about the project with DelDOT for two years now. According to the Kings Highway/Gills Neck road master plan written in 2016, Chura says the portion of Kings Highway was initially supposed to get a turning lane, something he fully supports.
Local homeowner Jeff Austin worries that the years-long construction won't be worth it in the end.
"There will be delays," says Austin. "Difficulty getting out of the neighborhood, coming to a place like the Brush Factory which I could come to in a moments notice in the past, but now it's going to be a hassle so I probably won't come as a result."
However, the project has gained support from some. In a statement to WBOC, Mary Roth, Chair of the Historic Lewes Byway Committee says, "The project as designed provides significant improvements for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as additional transit stops."
According to DelDOT, construction for the project is not likely to start before 2028 and is expected to take two to three years to complete.
DelDOT is accepting public comment on the plans until March 25th.
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