This analysis story was published in the Delaware Coast Press

Is the resort area's main highway headed for gridlock?

By Terry Plowman
Coast Press Editor

Gridlock.

It's a harsh word that conjures up a clear mental image -- cars at a standstill, bumper-to-bumper for blocks in every direction.

It's a word that is usually associated with metropolitan areas, but which has increasingly been in the local news as more and more traffic piles onto Route 1, the resort areaís main artery. For example:

Opponents of unchecked development along Route 1 have warned that the building boom could cause, or is causing, major traffic problems.

 

 Fire and rescue experts, such as Chuck Snyder, of the Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Company, have issued stern warnings about accessibility problems that could come from too much traffic on the highway.

 

When the Delaware Department of Transportation last month denied approval of the proposed expansion of the Rehoboth Outlet Center near Midway, it was based on the agency's primary concernócan Route 1 handle more traffic?

Traffic studies conducted for the outlet expansion and other proposed projects in the resort corridor have officially revealed what the average summertime driver already knows ó that intersections along the highway are at or near gridlock on Saturdays in peak season.

Of course, traffic engineers don't use the colloquial term "gridlock" -- they instead describe traffic conditions according to "levels of service," which is a formal system of defining the condition of traffic flow.

What are 'levels of service'?

"Levels of service" is defined as "the ease and convenience with which the highway facility can serve the expected volumes of traffic."

And DelDOT studies show that parts of Route 1 are failing to provide that "ease and convenience" on Saturdays during the tourist season.

On a rating system of A through F, with A representing free-flowing traffic and F signifying the virtual failure to move traffic, at least three intersections near Midway received an F in the Rehoboth Outlet study.

That study was based on traffic counted in the summer of 1995.

Minimum acceptable levels

Although DelDOT does not have a formal policy on the minimum acceptable level of service for roads such as Route 1, level D is the lowest rating the agency has ever accepted for a proposed development there, according to Bill Brockenbrough, county coordinator for DelDOT.

But the Citizens Coalition, a group which monitors development in the resort area, has complained that level D is too low to be acceptable in the resort corridor.

"Level of service D is what (the state) seems to think is acceptable," said Mable Granke, transportation committee chairwoman for the Citizens Coalition. "My personal experience in terms of where I have been involved with planning, level D is for 'urban' areas. It may be acceptable in congested ares in such as Washington, D.C., and Wilmington. We're not urban, and I donít think we want to become urban."

Brockenbrough said, "You try to design for level of service C, but sometimes we're forced to accept level D. The resorts pose an interesting problem in that the more (road capacity) you build, the faster it fills up."

Ralph Reeb, assistant director for DelDOTís planning division, said the agency doesn't strictly define acceptable levels of service because it is impossible to determine an "average" level of service, especially on a resort roadway.

"(Determining levels of service) is an interpretive art rather than a hard science," Reeb said. "They are just a snapshot in time, because the actual levels can change significantly in 15 minutes."

Can service be improved?

According to Brockenbrough, levels of service could theoretically be improved by building more roadway, but such construction is limited by geography and finances.

Of course, the Citizens Coalition argues that another way to improve Route 1's traffic situation is to deny proposals for commercial developments that would reduce the level of service below C.

Brockenbrough notes that acceptable levels of service vary greatly in the resort area depending on the time of year.

"If we accepted level D in the off-season, it would certainly be too low a standard," he said.

DelDOT will soon have another opportunity to comment on levels of service, when it releases its evaluation of the Wal-Mart superstore proposed for Route 9 near Five Points.

That evaluation, and another expected to be released in the fall for a proposed Lowe's superstore in the same area, will continue to define DelDOT's position on the traffic effects of commercial development in the resort area.

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