How interesting to read in the Feb. 9 edition of the Cape Gazette that members of Sussex County Council are questioning the accuracy of Delaware Department of Transportation traffic counts provided for inclusion in the county's 2018 comprehensive land use plan.
Councilman I.G. Burton (R-Lewes), for example, questioned the average daily traffic counts for Route 1, voicing skepticism over DelDOT data showing that the number of vehicles using the highway increased by only 5,500 - to 65,500 vehicles per day - over the last decade. "It's incorrect," Mr. Burton insisted. "You can see that from behind the wheel of a car."
Why is it, then, that the council is content to rely on the same DelDOT data when approving residential and commercial development plans that pump more and more traffic onto roads, including routes 1, 9 and 54, which Mr. Burton characterizes as "failing" today?
Residents who've opposed further development without concurrent roadway improvements are routinely ignored by the council and the planning & zoning commission, which in such cases are content to blindly accept DelDOT's rosy traffic assessments as gospel.
The council can't have it both ways. If our elected representatives truly believe that DelDOT data are suspect, then they should impose a moratorium on further development until the consequences of growth without infrastructure improvement are fully - and accurately - understood.
Peter A. Harrigan
Rehoboth Beach
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