9/4/2008
Civic leaders demand regional traffic study - Community News

Civic leaders demand regional traffic study

By Jesse Chadderdon
Community News
Posted Sep 04, 2008 @ 12:21 PM
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Hockessin, Del. —
A group of civic leaders is petitioning the state to do a comprehensive traffic analysis of the U.S. 202 and S.R. 141 corridors in light of four development plans they fear will lead to gridlock in the area.

Area residents have testified in several public meetings this summer that they fear already-congested thoroughfares will become impassable if the projects unveiled in March by Bala Cynwyd-based Stoltz Real Estate Partners are built as planned.

The two largest plans are for a 2.9 million-square-foot mixed-use village at the DuPont Barley Mill Plaza site and a 364,000-square-foot town center at the southwest corner of Concord Pike and Beaver Valley Roads. The other plans include a 133,000-square-foot expansion of Greenville Center, which would include a 12-story residential tower and a 138,000-square-foot expansion of the Montchanin Corporate Center – on the former Columbia Gas site.

Traffic studies are required for each project prior to approval, but Chuck Landry, president of the Council of Civic Organizations of Brandywine Hundred, said they would be insufficient.

“A regional study...will produce a big-picture traffic analysis, while a typical Traffic Impact Study can only produce isolated snapshots of each project based on the erroneous assumption that the others don’t exist,” he said. “When you look at a map, you see that these projects will stretch across and add substantial amounts of traffic to key roads in our area…all of which are bearing much more traffic than they were designed for.”

Landry, along with New Castle Count Civic League President Dan Bockover and Kennett Pike Association President Richard Beck, sent a letter dated August 3 to the Delaware Department of Transportation and the governor’s office formally requesting the regional analysis and a meeting with Transportation Secretary Carolann Wicks.

The request is not unprecedented. In 2000, DelDOT completed a comprehensive study of the U.S. 40 corridor between Bear and New Castle, leading to a 20-year strategic transportation plan.
 

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