While spending my annual summer vacation in Rehoboth Beach last week, I read your front-page article "Route 1 Accidents Draw Campaign" with a sense of irony, since my family and I had just been discussing the fact that Rehoboth Beach seems completely oblivious to pedestrian safety. They need to take a page from Dewey Beach's safety manual.
We usually rent a house on the beach side of Route 1, but this summer we rented a lovely house in the Keys To The Marsh Harbor development, which is located on Country Club Road next to Jungle Jim's Water Park, just off Route 1. As avid walkers and cyclists, our hearts sank as we saw with alarm that there is no safe way to cross Route 1 from those houses to get to Rehoboth Avenue and head to shopping and the beach.
To do this, a pedestrian or cyclist must wait for a break in the heavy traffic and then cross eight lanes of traffic - yikes! There is no crosswalk and no walk signal. The same is true if you go around Country Club Road to Shuttle Road and try to cross at the intersection where CVS is - no walk signal, no crosswalk.
Yes, there is a bus stop located on Country Club Road where you can catch a bus that takes you to the beach - but many times we just wanted to walk over to the The Pointe coffee shop for breakfast, or to some of the shops, or to take a walk on the beach in the early morning. One of our joys in staying at the beach is to be able to walk, and it is not that far of a walk to Rehoboth Avenue's attractions from across Route 1.
However, it was extremely difficult this summer. We also love cycling on the wonderful Junction & Breakwater Trail which goes to Lewes. Again, this required negotiating across eight lanes on our bikes to get to the trail. If we had small children with us, no way would we ever attempt it.
I understand that these developments on the other side of Route 1 are relatively new - but hello! Rehoboth Beach, you are a beach community - surely you must be aware that tourists are going to be renting these houses and condos that have sprung up across from Route 1, and will want to walk and cycle to the beach. What is really needed there is a pedestrian bridge; but failing that, at the very least, you should be providing crosswalks and walk signals.
Although the house we rented was terrific, we would never rent in this area again due to the unsafe conditions. I'm sure others who have had a similar experience probably agree, especially if they have young children - and this is a real shame for all the owners in that area who are relying on rental income.
I urge Rehoboth Beach to look into the extremely unsafe conditions of crossing Route 1 in this area. You owe it to the tourists who pour money into your economy every summer to not have to risk life and limb on their vacations just trying to walk or cycle to the beach, restaurants and shopping.
Sandi Parker
Arlington, Va.
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