The long-awaited traffic study concerning the proposal to build RV City was recently published. Bearing in mind that this study was paid for by the proposed developer, it comes as no surprise that the study contains numerous serious issues that were apparently overlooked or ignored in order to present a rosy picture regarding traffic to the hundreds of RVs that will make their way to RV City.
It is an insult to anyone's intelligence that we are to expected believe that there will be no, or minimal RV traffic coming from the west. The traffic coming from the west, traveling on eastbound Route 24 is expected to turn left at Mulberry Knoll Road, for which a traffic light will be installed. We all know what happens when a traffic light is installed - it backs up traffic until the light turns green. One would expect a traffic study professional to know this, and also know that the alternative to waiting for a traffic light to change or to avoid the back-up altogether, is to look for an alternate route.
Behold, there is already a traffic light enabling RVs to turn left on to Robinsonville Road and easily connect with Cedar Grove Road via a right turn. Why was Robinsonville Road, a narrow, windy country road without shoulders that follows Love Creek on the opposite side of the proposed RV City, not included in the traffic study? Then imagine driving your RV on Route 1 south, only to find yourself in slow-moving or stopped traffic (sound familiar?).
The natural alternative to the proposed route to RV City is to turn at Five Points and access Robinsonville Road from Plantation Road. Plantation Road will be backed up, possibly even worse because of the proposed traffic light, and people will make the turn onto Robinsonville Road. Does anyone believe that people with RVs do not use their GPS to plan routes and avoid traffic? RV drivers will punch in the RV City coordinates and go the way of the GPS, through Robinsonville Road, as well as through the Sandy Brae community and other local roads not intended for this type of use. Sadly, local car traffic will also add to this problem when trying to avoid the RVs.
Again, why was Robinsonville Road not included in the traffic study, paid for by the developer? Could it be that the developer would have to shell out even more money to improve the impacted local roads? At what point does it become not worth it to the developer to abandon this terrible use of land? Will the developers listen only if money talks?
Marion Gentul
Lewes
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