More safety measures coming for Route 1 sidewalk users

Last summer, in the name of bicycle and pedestrian safety, the local International Student Outreach Program convinced the Delaware Department of Transportation to allow high-traffic warnings to be painted along the northbound and southbound sidewalks of Route 1.

This summer, ISOP volunteer Bruce Kauffman said those stencils will be repainted for better visibility, and there will be also be signs installed at some of the more busy intersections.

During an ISOP meeting Feb. 11, Kauffman said DelDOT’s Delaware Bike Council agreed to put up signs along the Cape Region’s major travel corridor that will face bicyclists and pedestrians. He said the council also agreed to put up signs facing motorists at certain intersections.

“Yes, Route 1 is a bike trail, but it’s also a heavily used road,” Kauffman said.

DelDOT spokesman C.R. McLeod confirmed the installation of the signs and the repainting of the stencils on the sidewalks. He said he expects the signs to be installed by this summer, and the signs will likely tell drivers to look both ways, but other signs may also be incorporated.

McLeod said the locations of signs have not been determined, because DelDOT is currently reviewing the intersections along the corridor to identify high-volume ones where signage will be beneficial. He said DelDOT will share the locations once the review has been completed.

McLeod said DelDOT has agreed to install the signs because it is continuing to look for opportunities to make Route 1 a more bike-friendly corridor, and also help the cyclists use extra caution when approaching intersections.

“We have heavy ridership on Route 1 during the summer months, and want to make it as safe as possible for those who are riding, whether it is their primary means of transportation or for recreation,” he said.

Kauffman said he also asked DelDOT for other pedestrian and bike safety-related improvements, but was told no. He said those suggestions included more crosswalks on Route 1, green painted bike lanes, and prohibiting right turns on red lights.

McCleod said DelDOT is currently evaluating proposal for a new traffic signal along Route 1 near a new commercial development, and if that moves forward, it would include a pedestrian signal and crosswalk. He said that is the only additional crosswalk being considered at this time. Regarding green-painted bike lanes, McLeod said according to federal guidelines, that can only be done if the lane is exclusively used by bikes, which Route 1 is not. He said right turns on red are continuing, but the additional signage should help.

Kauffman said it’s important for the organization to encourage the students to report accidents, because DelDOT uses data for its decisions. He said at meetings DelDOT will pull out a map with the number of reported accidents along Route 1 and say they don’t need anything else because the data shows there have been only a few accidents in the past decade. In reality, Kauffman said, there’s been a few accidents in the past few months.