BETHANY BEACH, Del. -- Officials in the Town of Bethany Beach are pushing for a pedestrian pathway to be added to multiple neighborhood streets, but some residents are against the idea.
Mayor Rosemary Hardiman says engineering firms commissioned by the town, carried out two pedestrian studies in 2005 and 2017. They found that the narrow Collins St. is a major throughfare for the community and it is not safe for pedestrians. They recommended a proposed pedestrian pathway on Collins St. that is continuous and connects to Kent Ave. and Wellington Pkwy.
The proposed pathway will be an 8 ft. lane on the south side of Collins St. marked by a simple white line. The north side of the street will be widened by 3 ft. to make room for the pathway.
"There isn't a lot of room for people to pass and people who are walking with families and riding their bikes, there is no safe place for them to walk on Collins Street," says Mayor Hardiman.
However, many neighbors living on Collins St. disagree with plan and believe it will cause more problems than solutions.
Lothar Chappeler, who has owned properties on Collins St. since 1999, says he believes the town should address the increased traffic first.
"Nothing really is being done with this plan that addresses the traffic problem," says Chappeler. "As a matter of fact, I think, if the traffic problem were resolved or at least reasonably reduced, the safety issue wouldn't exist. The safety issue would go away."
Neighbor Jennifer Carter also has concerns.
"It will be a false sense of safety because this line of on the side of the sidewalk will delineate the pedestrian space from the traffic space," says Carter. "We all know that when people trust something like that, the line doesn't keep them inbounds."
Fellow neighbor Jerry Keating expressed concerns with the road widening aspect of the project. He says there is already a lack of parking on his property and the project will only make it worse.
Keating and other neighbors suggest other alternatives to the issue, like more speed bumps, digital speed readers, or making the street a one-way during the busy summer months.
The town's engineers briefed neighbors on the details of the project in a special meeting on Jan. 13. The town council will vote on the project in their next council meeting on Jan. 20.