Shovels are at the ready for Delaware’s biggest construction project in years.
DelDOT officials say work on two major portions of a new $400 million U.S. 301 toll road will begin no later than Jan. 11.
Project manager Javier Torrijos says they haven’t finalized a detailed schedule with contractors on the ground, but basic work will need to be done along the new roadway.
“One of the first things, obviously, in any contract, is to start clearing trees and grubbing so that you can start your embankment, your dirt moving operations, so that’s definitely going to be the order of business," Torrijos said.
Much of the work will also take place off of existing roadways.
“So it’s not going to be impacting traffic," said Torrijos. "The areas where it will impact traffic are, for example, like your local roads like Bunker Hill Road, Summit Bridge Road, some of those roads where we’ll be building a bridge over top of those roadways.”
Temporary road closures and detours will be announced at later dates. Hyett's Corner Road in Middletown will be among those closed for the majority of the project.
The new U.S. 301 connecter will be a four-lane toll highway running from Delaware-Maryland line, eventually joining with Route 1 just below the William Roth Bridge.
Five other remaining portions of the projects are either awaiting DelDOT to award contracts or go out to bid.
Torrijos expects construction to be completed by the end of December 2018.
