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Development adds to traffic problems

February 10, 2026

I am still disappointed in the decision not to approve the Atlantic Fields project. Sussex County Council's reason was the amount of new vehicles the center would add to the roads.

The Atlantic Fields project would not have added any vehicles to the roads; the people that would use the center are already here. 

We desperately need retail development here in southern Delaware. We are in a retail desert in this area, and by council declining the project, we still are.

The numbers for the new developments are staggering. The Crosswinds project has 352 units. If everyone there owns just one car, that adds a minimum of  352 vehicles. If everyone owns two cars, the total jumps to 688.

Northstar has 758 units. If everyone has two cars, the number is 1,516. Another 94 multifamily units, with everyone having two cars, adds 188.

Belle Mead is 344 units. Again with most people having two cars, for this development (just down the road from the proposed Atlantic Fields), that’s 688 cars.

These three developments alone, with most households owning two cars, the total of new traffic on the roads is 2,744 vehicles.

Everyone complains about traffic. One of the reasons for the traffic is that there is no retail development, so you must drive.

Bernard Hanna
Dagsboro
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