REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. -- On Monday morning, Rehoboth Beach commissioners reviewed the results of a pilot project from 2024 aimed at improving safety along King Charles Avenue.
Commissioners also reviewed proposals for parking and safety changes along the road, based on that pilot project. Those proposals include increasing diagonal and parallel parking down the street. The street is currently split between sections with public diagonal parking and sections without it.
However, some neighbors worry that increasing diagonal parking would hurt visibility on the road. Collins Roth, a resident who sent a letter to the city outlining concerns about angled parking, said the current parking design already creates hazards.
“Already, where you have diagonal parking, you just can’t see," Roth said. "If you're a pedestrian, you have to walk ten feet into the road to see past the angled cars. The proposal to put diagonal parking down the rest of King Charles basically created a parking lot with a 25-mile-per-hour road down the middle.”
Roth said he hopes city leaders come up with a solution that prioritizes pedestrian safety and traffic calming over the need for parking.
"There have been crashes on the road. There's some city data on that," Roth said. "Not daily, but at some point, somebody's going to get hurt. They have those little silent policemen that say stop for pedestrians and crosswalks, but those get knocked down all the time."
Roth told WBOC that, at the commissioner's workshop on December 8th, he felt like city leaders were interested in prioritizing safety. Roth shared some of his suggestions.
“Have crosswalks on every block to make sure that pedestrian views are as good as they can be," Roth said. "Stop signs, the whole bundle. Maybe even lower the speed limit to 15 miles per hour."
Evan Miller, the assistant city manager for Rehoboth Beach, told WBOC that city leaders are looking to prioritize safety. Miller said, on Monday morning, commissioners approved for crosswalks to be installed at every intersection along King Charles Avenue. Additional measures — including more stop signs, curb bump-outs, and potential parking adjustments — remain under consideration.
“Parking was an added benefit to this approach because we had concerns from residents and visitors about speeding on King Charles,” Miller said. “The idea of converting the parallel spaces to angled ones would narrow the travel lanes and create some traffic calming.”
However, Miller said city officials also understand the lack of visibility that diagonal spaces can create. Miller said that factor will be taken into consideration as more safety upgrades and parking opportunities are explored.
Rehoboth Beach officials say the city’s Streets and Safety Committee will take up the topic next month, when members are expected to draft recommendations for city commissioners to later review.
