Lewes byway celebrates New Road Master Plan kickoff
New Road is a scenic country road often referred to as the back way into Lewes. But with development looming, the character of the road is likely to change in the coming years.
To shape the look of New Road as development begins, the Historic Lewes Scenic Byway is developing a master plan to guide decisions related to improvements, including road expansion, signage, landscaping and other aesthetic features.
A kickoff event was held at Black Hog Farm on New Road on Oct. 24, followed by a community meeting in the evening.
“I’ve been driving this road for 40 years, and it’s always been a farm road,” said Lewes Mayor Ted Becker. “It hasn’t changed a whole lot over the years. But now because of development and because of the way the community has grown, the opportunity for this road to change is right upon us. We really need to preserve. And this project will allow us the opportunity to decide how we can preserve it.”
State, Sussex County and city officials are collaborating with the community to develop guidelines to address aesthetic, traffic and safety concerns along rural New Road. The growing pace of development, increasing flood risk and proposed transportation projects along the corridor have raised community awareness.
“The coming together between the county, the city and DelDOT is really what we need to do with everything,” said Sussex County Councilman I.G. Burton. “Having us all work together on a solution is really exciting,”
New Road, Kings Highway and Savannah Road are the three Historic Lewes Byway gateways to Lewes. The byway is a network of six roads in Lewes and Sussex County that also include Gills Neck Road, Pilottown Road and Cape Henlopen Drive. Together these roads comprise a continuous network that captures the 385-year modern history of Lewes. It was designated as a state byway by the Department of Transportation in 2015.
The overriding purpose of the plan is to preserve the character of the byway corridor in keeping with the context and character of the City of Lewes as it grows out toward Route 1. Land use and transportation changes are proposed throughout the corridor. The plan is needed to coordinate projects and plan for implementation of landscape enhancements and context sensitive design solutions as development takes place. The overall design concepts will include the desired location for a New Road Byway Gateway, recommendations for separated multi-use pathway and linkages to existing trails, on-road bike lanes, locations for landscaping and conservation areas, and context sensitive approaches for planned transportation projects.
Sen. Ernie Lopez, R-Lewes, and Rep. Steve Smyk, R-Milton, allotted about $47,000 of state community transportation funds for the project. Delaware Greenways has provided additional assistance.
“We have a burden of growth, larger than we’ve ever seen in the history of Delaware,” Smyk said. “I’ve lived here all my life, and I’ve never seen this type of growth at this volume before. We need to manage it, and we’re going to.”
“People make the assumptions that [community transportation] dollars go to fix pot holes or fix roads, but they also go to a very critical piece, planning,” Lopez said. “I think we can all agree that’s an important area where we need to be spending more of our money and utilizing more of our state resources and leveraging those rich resources we have with the county and municipalities to make sure we’re doing the best that we can.”
Draft recommendations to be included in the master plan will be presented to the public from 4 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 27. The public will have the opportunity to comment on recommendations.
