Stop signs installed on Read Avenue in Dewey

Navigating Read Avenue’s bayside just got a little safer thanks to a new three-way stop.

Resident Phil Winkler said he told Town Manager Scott Koenig that increased speeding on Read Avenue would inevitably cause someone to be struck. “I noticed both increased speeding on Read Avenue as well as the increase in drivers speeding while involved with their cellphones,” Winkler said. 

Winkler said Read Avenue has no sidewalks, shoulders, bike/pedestrian paths or speed-control devices, and is used by about 67 housing units and traffic from Northbeach and the Dewey Beach Lions Club. “It has a posted 15-mph speed limit which is often largely invisible and ignored,” said Winkler, who noted Dewey’s Bayard Avenue had similar speeding issues about 12 years ago until several stop signs were installed.

A stop sign on Dover Road at Read Avenue was already in place. Koenig had two stop signs installed on Read Avenue eastbound, and westbound on Read Avenue at Dover Road to create a three-way stop condition at this intersection. 

Koenig said the town, not the Delaware Department of Transportation, is responsible for speed control and safety on Dewey’s side streets. “There has been an ongoing complaint about speeding and cut-through traffic coming from McKinley Avenue,” Koenig said. “This was especially true earlier this summer since Northbeach removed the barriers between the Northbeach parking lot and the Lions Club lot.”

Winkler said he was pleased with the response. “The results have been very promising in slowing down speeding on Read Avenue, making it safer for all,” Winkler said.