In 2019, Route 1 carried 41,783 vehicles per day (non-summer) and Cave Neck Road carried 7,339 vehicles per day (non-summer). The intersection of Route 1 and Cave Neck Road is the second most dangerous intersection between Route 16 and Five Points. Now, a mixed-use development called Chappell Farms is proposed there. It will have hundreds of apartments, thousands of square feet of commercial space and a convenience store/gas station. This intersection is scheduled to have a grade-separated interchange completed in 2026. It is assumed that this interchange will relieve virtually all of the current as well as contemplated future traffic congestion and safety issues at this location.
At the recent public hearing, the developer presented a Traffic Impact Statement, blessed by DelDOT, that says the new development, when fully built out, will generate a minimum of 8,813 daily trips to Cave Neck Road, more than doubling its current count, a large percentage of which will travel through the Cave Neck/Route 1 intersection. The project phasing plan, again blessed by DelDOT, would permit the construction of 156 residential units and the convenience store as the initial phase, prior to interchange construction, generating over 5,600 new trips daily. The developer has agreed to delay the convenience store/gas station until the interchange is complete, thereby reducing traffic impacts. However, this is deceiving. According to the official TIS, “The unsignalized Cave Neck Road intersection with Delaware Route 1 exhibits LOS (Level of Service) deficiencies during all peak hours under existing conditions and during the evening and Saturday peak hours under future conditions... with or without the construction of the 5,374-square-foot convenience store with gas pumps and apartment units.” What is DelDOT thinking in recommending a 76 percent traffic increase with no improvements for five years?
Except for lengthening the left-turn stacking lane on northbound Route 1 at Cave Neck Road to 900 feet, DelDOT plans no improvements to relieve traffic or improve safety prior to construction of the interchange in 2026. Capacity and safety issues at that location will only get worse, much worse, until then. Anyone living on, near or using Cave Neck Road, communities served by intersections north and south along Route 1, and area visitors will deal with significantly increased traffic congestion and deteriorating safety over the next five years, all on already congested roads and intersections even without development of Chappell Farms.
For example, according to the current TIS, at the Route 1 Cave Neck Road intersection, the northbound left turn to westbound Cave Neck Road currently has a LOS of F with an average delay per vehicle of 65 seconds, just over a minute. In 2023, without any further development, that delay will become 356 seconds, or six minutes. Even without the convenience store/gas station, the average daily traffic increase for the first phase of the project is 1,139 new trips per day into an already failing intersection.
DelDOT has restricted eastbound Cave Neck Road left turns and southbound Delaware Route 1 U-turns but even “with these improvements, deficiencies would still occur along the northbound Delaware Route 1 left turn during the evening and Saturday peak hours under future conditions. Delays of up to 537.1 seconds per vehicle are expected along the northbound Delaware Route 1 left turn during the Saturday peak hour under future conditions with the proposed development,” according to the TIS. Do the math, that is nine minutes waiting to make a turn! Why would DelDOT approve imposing these awful conditions on Sussex residents? Why would Sussex County Council approve this project and its conditions now? The applicant’s own TIS shows that traffic congestion and safety are at failing levels currently and with no further development will be considerably worse in just two years. With the proposed development and construction on the new interchange starting, it will be intolerable. How much F service is too much?? How many accidents are acceptable?
What is to be gained for the county and its residents’ safety and quality of life by allowing this project to move forward now when virtually all of the traffic safety and congestion issues will be resolved in five years, by a project already in the pipeline? For the county and its residents and visitors, there is significant upside to delay. If you live, work in or travel through this area, write or email county council and tell them to either defer approval of this project until improvements are made or impose conditions requiring congestion and safety improvements be made immediately to allow it to go forward.
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