Delaware Route 7
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| DE Route 7 |
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| Length: | 16.94 mi[1] (27.26 km) | ||||||||
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| Formed: | 1938 | ||||||||
| South end: |   US 13 and DE 72 near Delaware City |
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| Major junctions: |
 DE 71 near Red Lion US 40 in Bear DE 273 near Christiana DE 1 in Christiana I-95/DE Tpk in Christiana DE 58 in Churchmans Crossing DE 4 in Churchmans Crossing and Stanton DE 2 near Prices Corner DE 72 in Pike Creek |
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| North end: | Pennsylvania State Line near  PA Route 41 in Avondale |
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Delaware Route 7 is a two-to-four lane north-south highway in New Castle County, Delaware that connects U.S. Route 13 and Delaware Route 72 near Delaware City, Delaware to the Pennsylvania border near Hockessin, where it continues into Pennsylvania as an unnumbered road that intersects Pennsylvania Route 41 at an interchange.
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[edit] Route description
Delaware Route 7 heads north from US 13 and DE 72 on the former four-lane, divided alignment of US 13, which had followed this route until 1995 when Delaware Route 1 (Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway) was constructed in this area. The construction of DE 1 resulted in US 13 being moved to the new highway between Tybouts Corner and the DE 72 interchange, with the northern part of the former alignment being converted into a two-lane frontage road and the southern part becoming a southward extension of DE 7, which had ended at US 13 a short distance to the north of the DE 72 intersection.
At the grade crossing for the Norfolk Southern railroad's Delaware City Secondary branch, DE 7 narrows to a two-lane undivided road with a speed limit of 35 mph (60 km/h) and passes under DE 1 at the location of its original southern terminus and heads to the north on Bear-Corbitt Road, paralleling DE 1 a short distance to the west. It passes through suburban development and intersects Delaware Route 71 in Red Lion. It then continues north into Bear.
In Bear, DE 7 widens to a four-lane, divided highway. The section of DE 7 between here and the Delaware Route 273 intersection was recently widened by the Delaware Department of Transportation from a two-lane road with an average speed limit of 35 mph (60 km/h) to a four-lane, divided highway. It intersects with U.S. Route 40 and continues north through suburban areas on Bear Christiana Road to the intersection with DE 273.
Past that intersection DE 7 narrows back to a two-lane road and becomes Main Street toward the center of Christiana, where it makes a right turn onto Stanton Christiana Road. It then heads north toward the Christiana Mall, where it then becomes part of DE Rt. 1 between the Christiana Mall and the junction with Interstate 95 (Delaware Turnpike). North of I-95, Delaware Rt. 7 becomes the sole route number of the 51-mile toll facility, with the the toll road ending at the Churchmans Crossing exit with Delaware Route 58 (Exit-166) and reverting back to a four-lane surface access highway called Stanton Christiana Road.
Past Chruchmans Crossing, the road then becomes concurrent with Delaware Route 4 at the vicinity of the Delaware Park racino, passing over the Amtrak Northeast Corridor and the White Clay Creek and then entering Stanton on the one-way pair of Mitch Road eastbound and Main Street westbound. Just after splitting into one-way streets, DE 7 departs DE 4 by making a left turn and heading north on the four-lane, divided Limestone Road.
North of Stanton, DE Rt. 7 heads through suburban areas and crosses over Delaware Route 2 (Kirkwood Highway). Past DE 2, it briefly becomes a four-lane, undivided road, before reverting back to a divided highway. It heads to the northwest into the suburban Pike Creek area and goes past Goldey Beacom College. It then intersects the northern terminus of Delaware Route 72 (the second time these two highways have met) and continues to the north. The road becomes an undivided highway past the Little Baltimore Road/Brackenville Road intersection, with a center median at the Valley Road intersection. Past that intersection, DE 7 heads north as a two-lane undivided road to the PA/DE state line, where the Delaware Rt. 7 designation is dropped, and where Limestone Road continues north into Chester County, Pennsylvania with access, via a grade-separated interchange (not expressway-standard), with PA Rt. 41 coming only a mile past the line.
[edit] Future
DelDOT has plans of shifting DE Rt. 7 onto the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway at Exit-162 (DE 273) instead of at Exit-164 near the Christiana Mall. This move will also require DelDOT to expand the highway (which is in the planning stages) from the current four-lane configuration to an eight-lane configuration, allowing the future reconstruction of the DE Rt. 1/Delaware Turnpike exit from the present cloverleaf exit to one with high-speed flyover ramps.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.deldot.gov/static/pubs_forms/traffic_counts/2006/rpt_pgs1_38_rev.pdf DelDOT 2006 Traffic Count and Mileage Report
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