Nothing has shone a light more brightly on Lewes' traffic issues than the inaugural Go Fourth Lewes! fireworks display, which by the way I applaud. It is amazing what a small group of people in our community can accomplish. It is unfortunate that they were victims of their own success.
It is equally amazing, although not in a good way, the extent to which other small groups of people can complain about so much and yet block seemingly every effort to solve anything, without even attempting to offer alternative solutions - traffic in particular. This is perhaps no better illustrated than in the recent immediate knee-jerk reaction against the mere suggestion of utilizing the abandoned railroad tracks as a motor vehicle road.
I am amused at how quickly the latest round of protest signs are popping up, the first two of which I saw in the front yards of Savannah Road businesses operating in an Agricultural Residential District (AR1), presumably under conditional-use variances (two businesses of literally scores of them on Savannah Road). "Trails connect people. Roads divide them?" So, how are your customers getting to your businesses? Rhetorical question, no need to answer. By definition, both roads and trails connect people and places, and both are vital to the future of Lewes.
Savannah Road businesses aside, it seems this latest group of protestors is largely composed of residents belonging to newer (1980s and on) neighborhoods that abut the decommissioned railroad tracks. Ironically, it is these same types of dead-end neighborhoods (no cross-through traffic or inter-neighborhood connectivity) that are at the heart of dividing our community, as well as at the heart of our traffic problems. Theirs and similar communities literally consist of roads to nowhere, unless you count ending up where you started as a destination, which is ultimately either Savannah Road or Kings Highway (and to a lesser, but increasing extent, New Road).
Thus far, I have not found any empirical data to show dual-use road/trail corridors' vs. railroad tracks' effect on property values, but a study of a neighborhood in North Wales, Pennsylvania showed a 13 percent decline in property values from home lots located 4,000 feet from railroad tracks, to home lots located 200 feet from the same tracks. It stands to reason that home lots directly abutting railroad tracks would exhibit an even greater decline in value. So, congratulations to those neighborhoods abutting the decommissioned tracks - you are already making money.
While lacking the aforementioned empirical data, I think there is a discernible difference in a road/trail parkway with a 2-lane road, separate bike trail, 25 mph speed limit, traffic-calming circles and attractive landscaping - as compared to a four-lane, restricted use, 55 mph highway. Given that, I wonder if any of the protestors have really looked at the Hudson-Hughes Highway proposal?
Perhaps they never got past the word highway (which understandably has negative connotations), as it seems that a parkway, or a scenic, landscaped thoroughfare (as illustrated in the Hudson-Hughes concepts) is still far better than the railroad tracks that they previously abutted, and believe will even increase those homes’ values.
In a discussion regarding the Hudson-Hughes concepts, as well as my belief that it does not go nearly, far enough in evenly distributing the existing traffic, let alone future traffic in Lewes, a gentleman countered me, stating that if we keep building roads they will keep building developments.
I think if that were true, given that the state has added no new roads in Lewes since perhaps 1966 (Theodore C. Freeman Memorial Hwy.), developers would have stopped developing long ago.
To the contrary, whether any of you or I like it or not, it seems pretty obvious that the developers will continue to develop as long as there are farmers willing to sell their land, to which I say, “Get out while the getting is good,” to both farmers, may they get top dollar, and to those who cannot abide with Lewes’ growth. For the latter, there are plenty of small towns with decreasing populations that might be more to your liking.
Derek Cole
Lewes
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