Gills Neck Road bicyclists need better guidance
Every week throughout the year, more on the weekends and in the summer, bicyclists travel up and down Gills Neck Road, making their way to and from the Junction and Breakwater Trail between Lewes and Rehoboth Beach. The trail has been a great addition to Delaware’s Cape Region, but it still has rough edges that need smoothing.
One of the roughest edges is the fact that Gills Neck Road is a relatively narrow, country road without shoulders. More than any other road, maybe in all of Sussex County, the actual travel lanes of Gills Neck Road are shared by lots of bicyclists and motorists.
With more and more houses being constructed in the Wolfe Runne, Wolfe Pointe, Hawks Eye and Breakwater communities along Gills Neck Road, and with the popularity of the trail continuing to grow, there is more traffic of all types using the travel lanes.
The sharing isn’t always happy. In the area of the S-curve just north of the entrance to Wolfe Pointe, the sharing isn’t always safe. Because there are no shoulders, and because of the blindness in the S-curve, bicyclists are particularly vulnerable.
The long-term answer will be a more direct rerouting of the trail from its intersection with Gills Neck Road across the temporarily shelved Showfield project into Lewes. In the meantime, though, the state needs to give better guidance to bicyclists to mitigate the safety issue.
The recent posting of a new sign along the road, unfortunately, is worsening rather than helping the problem. The sign informs motorists and bicyclists that bicyclists may use the full travel lane of the road. Bicyclists who use the full travel lane in the blind S-curve are tempting fate.
The sign should be removed, and bicyclists, instead, should be encouraged to keep to the right side of the travel lane.
If a colorful, four-foot bicycle lane were painted to the right side of each travel lane, riders would receive guidance on the best way to safely enjoy their cruise, and motorists - who should be proceeding carefully - would also have a greater sense of where to be and what to expect.
