Delaware Route 1

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Delaware Route 1 is a 177 km (110-mile) long, four-to-six lane highway going from the Maryland-Delaware State line on the eastern Atlantic shoreline to the Delaware Turnpike (Interstate 95) just outside of Wilmington.

The highway, which first came into existence in the late 1970s, was originally a two-lane road signed as Delaware Route 14, but was truncated to Milford when the Delaware Department of Transportation adopted a U.S. Highway-style system for its state routes. From the early 1970s to 1995, the highway ended at is what is now U.S. Route 113, but in the mid-1970s, the DOT studied a "Dover Extension" of the Delaware Turnpike, which evolved into today's Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway.

Route 1 (Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway) approaching the Senator William V. Roth, Jr. Bridge that crosses Chesapeake and Delaware Canal near St. Georges

[edit] Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway

The Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway, simply known as the "Route 1 Turnpike" or "Relief Route", is an 82 km (51-mile) long, four-lane controlled-access toll highway that connects the Delaware Turnpike in Christiana to the Dover Air Force Base Complex in Southern Dover. The roadway was built in several stages, starting in 1989, and was completed in 2003 with the Odessa-Tybouts Corner section being opened to traffic. The highway was dedicated in 1995 shortly after the dedication of the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.. A short, roughly 2-mile four-lane grade-separated highway, opened in 1998, called the "Puncheon Run Corridor," connects the Route 1 Turnpike with U.S. 13 near Wyoming, Delaware and allows the highway to serve as a sort-of "Dover Bypass" around Dover. The highway begins at the interchange of Interstate 95 near Churchmans Crossing. This is where DE 7 branches off the main thoroughfare giving way to the beginning of DE 1. From here until Dover, it roughly parallels US 13.

The highway, built to Interstate Highway standards, has a total of four travel lanes, except for a portion between Biddles Corner and Tybouts Corner, where the highway has six lanes. Construction was funded with the normal 60% federal/40% state ratio, but allowing the state to recoup costs of building the highway through the use of tolls collected at two mainline barriers in Biddles Corner and Dover (near the Dover International Speedway used by NASCAR), and at several exits between the two ends. The Federal Highway Administration stipulated that the tolls must be removed by 2020, or when the roadway is paid off, whichever comes first (although future expansion projects and possible privatization may keep the tolls on longer).

An extension of the "Relief Route" is planned to extend from Dover down the U.S. Route 13 corridor (via U.S. Route 13 or U.S. Route 113) to the Maryland state line. An alternative in which a dedicated non-toll highway will break off from the current toll highway (possibly at the "Puncheon Run Corridor" exit near Dover Air Force Base) and follow U.S. Route 13 into Maryland, while the toll highway would extend in a southeasterly direction, ending near Lewes.^{[citation needed]}

The main feature of the highway is the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Bridge (officially known as the Senator William V. Roth, Jr. Bridge), a concrete cable-stayed structure located in St. Georges and crossing the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal with a 275 meter (750 foot) center span. The new six-lane bridge allows through traffic and heavy trucks to bypass the nearby St. Georges Bridge, which was built during World War II and was showing major signs of deterioration. The new bridge was also the first major project to use prefabricated concrete segments, produced in a factory setting and transported by barge to the project site.

In addition, while the highway uses regular mileposts, the exit numbers use metric measurements--a byproduct of a failed experiment proposed by President Bill Clinton, in which the U.S. would convert all use of measurements from the standard "English" system to the universal metric system.

Although owned and operated by the Delaware Department of Transportation along with the Delaware Turnpike, Governor Ruth Ann Minner proposed that the road be privatized, with the DOT being contracted by the new company to provide routine maintenance to the roadway. The road costs $3.00, with E-Z Pass users paying less, especially those who commute between Dover and Wilmington on a regular basis.

[edit] Toll Route Interchanges

Unlike the Delaware Turnpike and New Jersey Turnpike, which uses a sequential exit system, or the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Atlantic City Expressway, and Garden State Parkway, which use a mileage-based system, the Route 1 Turnpike utilizes a kilometer-based system, in anticipation of a mid-1990s conversion of all measurements in the U.S. from the standard "English" system to the metric system (see Metrication in the United States). All distance markers were in kilometers as well as all exit numbers. Since then, the distance markers were replaced with standard milemarkers, but the exit numbers are still in metric. In addition, the exits north of U.S. 13 in Tybouts Corner were in standard miles, reflecting Delaware Route 1 mileage from Ocean City, Maryland, but were converted in 1995 with the opening of the C & D Canal Bridge.

County	Exit numbers		Exit name	Notes
	Current	Former
Kent	92		Dover A.F.B. Commercial Gate (N.B. ONLY)	Northbound exit only. Southbound commercial vehicles must make a U-Turn in Little Heaven to access this exit.
Kent			AT-GRADE INTERSECTION (S.B. ONLY)	At-grade intersection (with traffic light) for private sand quarry company
Kent	93		Dover A.F.B. Main Gate-Visitors	Former at-grade intersection, converted in 1996-97
Kent	95		(Del. 10 West) S. Dover-Camden	U.S. 113 was the former primary road for this exit.
Kent	97		Salisbury Md.-Norfolk Va.	DE 1 S.B. ONLY – direct access to U.S. 13
Kent	2		Bay Road-S. Dover-Dover Air Force Base-Camden	PUNCHEON RUN CONNECTOR EXIT – U.S. 113 was formerly the primary road for this exit.
Kent			AT-GRADE INTERSECTION WITH U.S. 13	PUNCHEON RUN CONNECTOR EXIT
Kent	98		(Del. 8) Downtown Dover-Little Creek	Southbound exit only. Former emergency vehicle access that was converted to exit in 1997.
DOVER TOLL PLAZA – $1.00 auto toll w/ high-speed E-Z Pass lanes
Kent	104		(U.S. 13) N. Dover-Scarborough Road	To Dover International Speedway and Dover Downs racetrack/casino
Kent	114		(U.S. 13) S. Smyrna	Northbound to to Delaware Routes 6 & 300
New Castle	119		(U.S. 13) N. Smyrna-Townsend	North and Southbound – Access to Rest Area; Southbound – access to to Delaware Routes 6 & 300
New Castle			PROPOSED DEL. 71 – TOWNSEND INTERCHANGE	Interchange will provide direct access to Del. 71 at its current southern terminus with U.S. 13 in Blackbird
New Castle	136		(Del. 299) Odessa-Middletown-Townsend	NO TRUCKS OVER 2 AXLES
New Castle	142		(U.S. 13 & Del. 896 North) Mt. Pleasant-Boyds Corner	Current route to U.S. Route 301
BIDDLES CORNER TOLL PLAZA – $1.00 auto toll w/ high-speed E-Z Pass lanes
New Castle			FUTURE U.S. 301 TURNPIKE INTERCHANGE	New toll highway announced by DelDOT on November 14, 2006–Will bypass Middletown and connect with current four-lane highway near Warwick, Maryland
New Castle	148		S. St. Georges	DE 1 S.B. ONLY – access to U.S. 13, via Lorewood Grove Rd. (opened in 1999)
Senator William V. Roth, Jr. Bridge (formerly the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Bridge)
New Castle	152		(U.S. 13 South & Del. 72) Delaware City-St. Georges-Newark	To To Delaware Routes 7 and 9
Begin – Del. 1/U.S. 13 Concurrency
New Castle	156	96	(U.S. 13 North) New Castle-N.J./N.Y.	Direct access to Del. 71 South from Del. 1 S.B. ONLY, via Exit-156A ramp
End – Del. 1/U.S. 13 Concurrency
New Castle	160	98	(U.S. 40) Elkton Md.-State Road
New Castle	162	99	(Del. 273) Newark-New Castle	To New Castle County Airport
New Castle	164	100	(Del. 7 South) Christiana-Mall Road	Access to Christiana Mall complex
Begin – Del. 1 & 7 Concurrency
New Castle	165	101	Delaware Turnpike-Wilmington-Baltimore (I-95)	To Delaware Memorial Bridge and N.J. Turnpike
End – Del. 1 & 7 Concurrency
End of Del. 1 – Highway continues as Del. 7
New Castle	166		(Del. 58) Churchmans Road-Churchmans Crossing	To Christiana Hospital. Formerly an at-grade intersection.
END OF HIGHWAY

[edit] The Coastal Highway

South of the toll road, Delaware Route 1, now signed as Bay Road, continues south to Frederica and then Milford, where it bypasses the city on a five-mile (8 km) bypass. Prior to 2004, this stretch of highway between the toll road and the Milford Bypass was co-signed as U.S. Route 113, but the road was truncated at the northern junction with the bypass. Past Milford, the road becomes the Ocean Highway, and continues past the small towns of Milton, and Red Mill, before reaching Nassau, Delaware, where it intersects with U.S. 9 and Delaware Route 404 to Georgetown. After a short concurrency, U.S. 9 then breaks off from Route 1 and heads towards Lewes, and the Cape May-Lewes Ferry to Cape May, New Jersey.

Past U.S. 9, Route 1 passes through Midway and the Rehoboth Outlets before a spur road (Delaware Route 1A) branches off to Rehoboth Beach. After crossing the Rehoboth and Lewes Canal, a small-craft canal connecting the Broadkill River and Roosevelt Inlet in Lewes with the Rehoboth Bay, the road continues through Dewey Beach (where Delaware Route 1A rejoins with the main highway) before finally reaching the Delaware coast. The road then continues along the Delaware Seashore State Park and over the Indian River Inlet before reaching three southern Delaware resort areas (Bethany Beach, South Benthany, and Fenwick Island). In Fenwick Island, Delaware Rt. 1 ceases at the intersection with Delaware Route 54, as it becomes Maryland Route 528 upon crossing the Maryland state line and entering Ocean City, Maryland.

Delaware Route 1 has two business loops: Business Route 1, serving Milford on a two-lane stretch of road that was once part of Delaware Route 1, and before, Delaware Route 14, and Delaware Route 1A, serving primarily Rehoboth Beach, but rejoins Route 1 in nearby Dewey Beach. A spur route, the unsigned Delaware Route 1B, provides a direct, and alternate connection between Delaware Route 1 at the Rehoboth & Lewes Canal and Delaware Route 1A, as Delaware Route 1A crosses the canal on a drawbridge, and Delaware Route 1 itself uses a high-level crossing.

Although Route 1 south of Milford is a four-lane highway, with the highway expanding to six lanes between Nassau and the Route 1/Route 1A split at the Outlets, it was at one time a two-lane road, but was gradually converted into four lanes in the 1970s, with the last section, the high-level bridge over the Rehoboth & Lewes Canal, was expanded into a four-lane facility and completed by 1985. Another two-to-four lane conversion, at the Indian River Inlet between Dewey Beach and Bethany Beach, was completed in the mid-1970s, but due to constant wear by the seawater and tide currents from both the Atlantic Ocean and Rehoboth Bay, it is currently being replaced with a new cable-stayed structure similar in nature to the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal Bridge, with the bridge slated to be done by 2010 or 2011.

[edit] See also

• Delaware Route 7
• U.S. Route 301 Turnpike (Delaware)