Safety demands new bridge into Rehoboth

State officials have recently become interested in the route of the Junction and Breakwater Trail into Rehoboth Beach.

The primary stumbling block, for the past year as this issue has evolved, is getting cyclists and pedestrians over the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal and past the traffic circle on Rehoboth Avenue.

Speaker of the House Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf recently said since money for the project is coming from the state, he wants Department of Transportation engineers to reject their current plan to send cyclists on the sidewalk from the canal to the circle.

Schwartzkopf, citing safety reasons, wants DelDOT to route cyclists instead into Grove Park. Cyclists would make a sharp left turn as they come over the canal bridge, travel along the canal past Rehoboth Beach Museum and then use an existing pathway in Grove Park to Henlopen Avenue.

But that plan has drawn opposition from Rehoboth Mayor Sam Cooper, who says using promenade space behind the museum as a bike path will detract from the museum. He said turning the space into a bike path would be like building one's home in the middle of the street. While state and city officials appear set to face off on this part of the route, the elephant in the room remains.

The most dangerous part of the path into and out of the city for pedestrians and cyclists – especially if officials expect them all to share the same space – is getting over the canal bridge.

Even if one of the bridge sidewalks is widened, sending pedestrians and cyclists traveling both directions on the same bridge sidewalk will unquestionably be the most dangerous part of the Junction and Breakwater Trail. Why fight over a route that would be unnecessary if officials simply get together and demand a pedestrian/cyclist drawbridge over the canal?

Neither of these routes, which begin only after cyclists have crossed the canal, could be called a safe path into Delaware's premier resort city. City and state officials should put aside their differences and work together to build a safe, new pedestrian drawbridge into Rehoboth.