Delaware’s Department of Transportation has a proposal to widen two Rehoboth Beach roads to make room for bicycle and pedestrian pathways.
John Fiori, DelDOT’s bicycle coordinator, said residents can’t safely walk or ride along Rehoboth’s Munchy Branch and Wolf Neck roads.
“Some of the residents themselves like to ride and walk but are afraid to due to the traffic volume and high speeds vehicles are going,” Fiori said.
In particular, the area attracts a lot of international students that rent homes during the summer, Fiori said. These students bike and walk to work and return home late at night, when it’s harder for cars to see pedestrians on the roads.
Last summer, state lawmakers asked DelDOT to study the roads and DelDOT presented two options to the public last week.
One option is a 10-feet wide shared use path with rumble strips to alert veering motorists, while another features a five-foot wide grass buffer.
Both options would be constructed in three phases. Phase one would start at the intersection of Munchy Branch Road and Route 1 and end at Field Lane. The second phase would begin at Field Lane and extend from the remainder of Munchy Branch Road to Wolfe Neck Road. Phase three would go along Wolf Neck Road from Munchy Branch Road to East Atlantic Circle.
Fiori said DelDOT isn’t sure when it will start designing the project, but once they do, it could take three to four years to finish it.
DelDOT will hold another public workshop in June before finalizing the plan.