The Historic Lewes Byway, City Council and DelDOT began work on the Savannah Road project in 2015. This project under consideration is from Savannah Road bridge to American Legion Road. It is important that you have all the facts to understand its benefits and costs.
This is a fiscally responsible project. For an investment of 20 percent the city will receive an additional 80 percent in funding, or a $500,000 return on a $125,000 investment. This project leverages funding. It would be shortsighted to turn it down. Municipalities in Delaware compete hard for these funds every year. DelDOT has agreed to a 20 percent city contribution of $18,000 for the 2018 budget year given the city's budget. This match covers only the design phase of the project, taking a year to complete. During the design phase, design and cost issues can be resolved.
DelDOT invested over $40,000 to produce the current concept plan. DelDOT moved forward with this project in good faith last year with city council's full support. City of Lewes paid ERM $15,000 for a report on ways to improve this section of town. This project carries out its recommendations. The 2015 Comp Plan recognizes the need to improve this section of Savannah Road as well. Canceling this project does not save the state of Delaware any money. This is a pass-through grant from the federal government to DelDOT. If we turn down the funding it will go to another community in Delaware.
According to DelDOT, this is a high-priority bike-safety project. This stretch of Savannah Road is dangerous for bicyclists. Cars passing on the shoulder frequently cut in front of bikers, creating unsafe conditions, an accident waiting to happen. These two-way bike paths are being built alongside roads in cities all over the country. It meets federal bike/pedestrian Complete Streets Guidelines. It is a safe, cost-effective solution given the limitations of the existing road, without doing a major road widening. Can we save money by doing only the bike path or the streetscape enhancements? This project ranked very high to receive these grant funds because it included many grant ranking categories. That is how the byway won the grant. If we separated it, we would not have qualified well. And, it must contain a transportation component to get the streetscape enhancements.
Putting shoulders on either side of the road, as suggested by some, by re-striping the lanes is not an option. DelDOT has determined that the existing wide shoulder on the marsh side was not built to standards that can support auto traffic. The cost of doing that is beyond the financial limits of the Transportation Alternatives Program. Rebuilding and re-striping the road cannot be applied for as another TAP grant.
Instead, it would have to compete with all the other statewide Capital Improvement Projects and go through the CIP process. It would not rank very high, given higher-priority projects and limited state budget. If we turn this grant down, we have no other options in the foreseeable future.
This is not just a bike path, but a significant streetscape enhancement project. It began as a byway effort to enhance this area (Marine Commercial District) based on city council's desire to make improvements. It includes sidewalks, crosswalks, landscaping, stormwater control, rest stop with benches/overlook at the corner of American Legion Road. If we want downtown Lewes to be able to compete with new areas developing on the outskirts of our city, we will need to enhance this area. This is an opportunity to educate the public on the need to protect, preserve and revitalize our wetlands. Saying that the marsh on Savannah Road is a "dead marsh" is just not true. There is lots of wildlife out there. Our intent is to enhance and revitalize the marsh by bringing attention to it. This project can then lead to other state grants to improve the quality of the wetlands. At the rest stop on American Legion Road there will be interpretive panels explaining how the marsh works and why wetlands are important. The stormwater drainage that is incorporated into this project will improve the quality of runoff going into the marsh.
Crossing the Savannah Road bridge on the same side as the proposed two-way bike path is an advantage. It takes bikers directly to and from the bike parking lot at the foot of the bridge on the corner of Gills Neck and Savannah roads, recently built by the city. Bikers will be more likely to park their bikes and walk to Second Street And, it connects more closely to the J&B and Lewes-Georgetown Trail entrances on Gills Neck Road. Reducing the number of cars using this stretch of Savannah Road during tourist season and events will help with the flow of traffic.
As we strive to maintain our small-town character, I encourage you to look at the big picture with a long-term vision for our city. Things are changing rapidly all around us, and the city is impacted by those changes. This is an opportunity to help us adapt to those changes without losing our small-town appeal.
Approving this grant is not only prudent today, but far-sighted. It will provide a safer connection, with attractive streetscaping, between the beach and the historic district, and connect both sides of the canal. A small investment for a big return.
Gail Van Gilder
chair, Historic Lewes Byway
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