Lewes, Rehoboth trail improvements welcome
Delaware Department of Transportation officials recently announced two planned improvements to the Junction and Breakwater Trail connecting Lewes and Rehoboth Beach. They are working on an extension of the trail at the northern end to bypass the shoulderless and dangerous section of Gills Neck Road used by most riders to get in and out of Lewes.
They are also designing and engineering a new off-road alignment to connect the Hebron Road end of the trail with the Rehoboth Avenue drawbridge. The current connection, like the Gills Neck Road stretch, carries bicyclists and pedestrians on a circuitous route that uses the shoulderless Hebron Road to Church Street and the Church Street light before directing them to the Rehoboth Avenue crossing of the canal.
Both announcements are welcome news for those who ride the second-most-popular bicycle and walking trail in the state. Delaware’s only trail getting more walking and bicycling traffic is the James Hall Trail through urban Newark.
The Junction and Breakwater Trail is the poster-child example of the type of community-connecting trails that Gov. Jack Markell has made a priority for his administration. The governor and General Assembly put significant funds into the initiative last year, and the governor has asked the General Assembly, in the budget currently under review, to approve many millions more to link communities.
Markell and his economic development advisers know an extensive trail network helps create a quality of life drawing people and corporations to Delaware. And, in a state struggling to contain its Medicare and Medicaid costs because of high rates of obesity and diabetes, a major initiative encouraging people to get outdoors and active will pay significant long-term benefits. An added benefit the trails provide is an alternative transportation option increasingly important with fuel prices now threatening the $4 per gallon mark.
For all these reasons, this initiative, which will someday connect most of the communities in Delaware and outdoor recreational areas with an attractive and healthy trail network, deserves encouragement and celebration.
