Delaware Route 2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|||||||||
| DE Route 2 |
|||||||||
| Length: | 14.91 mi[1] (24.00 km) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formed: | 1938 | ||||||||
| West end: |  MD 279 near Elkton, Maryland |
||||||||
| Major junctions: |
  DE 2 Business near Newark DE 4 near Newark DE 896 near University of DE DE 72 near University of DE DE 2 Business near University of DE DE 273 near University of DE DE 7 near Stanton DE 41 near Prices Corner DE 141 near Prices Corner DE 100 in Elsmere DE 48 in Wilmington DE 9 in Wilmington |
||||||||
| East end: |  DE 52 in Wilmington |
||||||||
|
|||||||||
Delaware Route 2 is a 14-mile long east-west 4 to 6 lane highway located in northern New Castle County, Delaware. It begins at the junction of Delaware Route 52 in Wilmington, and terminates at the Maryland state line near Elkton, Maryland.
Route 2 is known variously as Elkton Road, Christina Parkway, Chestnut Hill Road, South Chapel Street, Library Avenue, Capital Trail, Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington Avenue, Lincoln & Union Streets along its 14.91 mile route.
Route 2 is a very heavily travelled highway, with an annual average daily traffic (AADT) of over 52,509 vehicles in its busiest section from Delaware Route 41 to Delaware Route 141.
[edit] Route description
Delaware Route 2 begins at the Maryland state line along Maryland Route 279 (Elkton Road). Elkton Road provides a four-lane surface arterial between the city of Elkton, Maryland, Interstate 95 Exit 109, and west Newark.
The route then turns east onto the Christina Parkway, forming a concurrency with Delaware Route 4 and Delaware Route 896 with Delaware Route 2 Business continuing east on Elkton Road toward downtown Newark. At the intersection with South College Avenue, where Route 896 heads to the south, Routes 2 and 4 continue east on Chestnut Hill Road to the intersection with Delaware Route 72 (South Chapel Street).
Route 2 then turns north onto Route 72 and runs along the east side of Newark on South Chapel Street and Library Road. At the intersection with Delaware Route 273, Route 2 meets the eastern terminus of Delaware Route 2 Business and Route 2 continues east, along with Route 72, onto the Robert W Kirkwood Highway, a road named for Revolutionary War hero Major Robert W. Kirkwood that serves as a major commercial thoroughfare between Newark and Elsmere. Route 72 splits from Route 2 at the south end of Possum Park Road. Route 72, Polly Drummond Hill Road, Upper Pike Creek Road, Milltown Road, Delaware Route 7 (Limestone Road), and Duncan Road all provide north-south routes from the Kirkwood Highway into the Pike Creek Valley. Almost all of Kirkwood Highway is developed with commercial strip malls and shopping centers, as well as numerous residential subdivisions and apartment complexes such as Woodmill Village, Woodmill Townhomes, Meadowood, & Green Valley.
A six lane bridge replaced a four-lane span over the Red Clay Creek in the late 1980s. At the east end of the bridge is the intersection with the Newport Gap Pike, which heads north as Delaware Route 41 and south as Delaware Route 62. From this intersection, Route 41 shares a half-mile overlap with State Route 2 through Prices Corner to the Exit 6 partial-cloverleaf interchange of Delaware Route 141, which joins the Kirkwood Highway with Interstate 95 and New Castle via U.S. Route 202 and Delaware Route 141 (Basin Road).
Delaware Route 2 continues east on the four-lane divided Kirkwood Highway to the Little Mill Creek crossing adjacent to the V.A. Hospital, where it crosses into Elsmere and becomes Wilmington Avenue. In Elsmere, Route 2 crosses Delaware Route 100 (Dupont Road) and then over a CSX railroad line between Route 100 and Prospect Road on a four lane bridge
Route 2 then enters the city of Wilmington in the Canby Park neighborhood where it splits onto the one-way pair of Union Street westbound and Lincoln Street eastbound. It passes through the Hill Top and Little Italy neighborhoods before ending at Delaware Route 52 (Pennsylvania Avenue).
[edit] History
The highway first came into existence as early as 1938. Route 2 was widened between Delaware 41 (Newport Gap Pike) and Elsmere by 1944. Expansion of the roadway westward occurred by 1964 to the city of Newark.
In Elsmere, Delaware Route 2 originally followed New Road, crossing a CSX railroad line at-grade. It was eventually moved to the current alignment on Wilmington Avenue that crosses over the railroad tracks. The bridge was originally two lanes, but was replaced by a four lane bridge in the late 1980's.
Until about 1990 Delaware Route 2 ran through Newark via Elkton Road and the one-way couplet of Main Street (westbound) and Delaware Avenue (eastbound). It was relocated to the south and east of Newark onto the Christina Parkway, Chestnut Hill Road, South Chapel Street, and Library Road in an effort to reroute through traffic away from the central business district and University of Delaware campus. Delaware Route 2 Business now takes the place of the original mainline through downtown Newark.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.deldot.gov/static/pubs_forms/traffic_counts/2006/rpt_pgs1_38_rev.pdf DelDOT 2006 Traffic Count and Mileage Report
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
