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Q&A DEL AWARE’S I N FR ASTRUCTU RE
Q Q& A A & &
Troy D. Mix,
University of Delaware
As associate director of the Institute for
Public Administration at the University of
Delaware’s Biden School of Public Policy &
Administration, Troy Mix is a key connector
in the complex web of Delaware’s logistics
and transportation infrastructure.
What are some of the most
important priorities you are
currently working to address?
Truck parking has been a big issue in recent
years. It is an issue that gets attention
locally — constituents might call and say
there are trucks parked in their community.
That feedback filters to the transportation
planners so we can research solutions.
Congestion is an ongoing issue that is
being worked on as well. Planning needs
to balance community quality-of-life
concerns with the necessities of commerce.
For example, there has been significant
planning around the Port of Wilmington
focused on being more mindful of commu-
nity concerns as trucks are entering and
exiting the port. As planning for a new
container port moves forward (see page 4),
we want to make sure those investments
are efficient and continue to be mindful
of community concerns.
What about emissions, especially
with a hydrogen infrastructure
evolving across Delaware thanks to
the MACH2 hub?
I would say that sustainability is a theme
that we have looked at over the years. There
is definitely a role for a lot of alternative
fuels in freight and goods movement.
Chesapeake Utilities has been a big player
in our activities.
Chesapeake Utilities’ presence in
Delaware allows for some experiments
with alternative fuels. For example, waste
management trucks go on a predetermined
route, so can we have them fuel up at a
limited number of natural gas stations along
that route?
There is a lot of work happening in
Delaware on making hydrogen affordably
and distributing it (see page 16). Where
Delaware is well situated is that we are
small and there are many opportunities to
coordinate, but we also have an outsized
representation of industry leaders, so we
are a great test bed for everything from
electrolysis to distributing hydrogen and
making a use case for industry.
Are there any other modes of
transportation that need to be
mentioned when it comes to the
movement of goods across Delaware?
High-value, relatively light goods like
pharmaceuticals often move by air, so
Delaware’s airports play a critical role
in goods movement. Airports like the
Delaware Coastal Airport are also freight
hubs because they are co-located with
business and industrial parks that depend
on a reliable flow of goods (see page 8).
Rail continues to be critical for freight
and goods movement in the region. Carload
Express operates the Delmarva Central Rail-
road (see page 12), and the state has really
benefited from their careful attention to
service and infrastructure improvements. «
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THE DELAWARE MEMORIAL BRIDGE:
A Logistics Asset Gets an Upgrade
One of Delaware’s most important
infrastructure features is the
Delaware Memorial Bridge. Spanning
the Delaware River between
Delaware and New Jersey, it is “a
vital link in the I-95 corridor,” said
James Salmon, public information
officer at the Delaware River and Bay
Authority (DRBA).
On a slow day, 40,000 vehicles
may pass across each of the bridge’s
two spans, he said. On a busier day,
there may be up to 160,000 vehicles
total across both spans.
“A significant portion of that
traffic is commercial,” Salmon
said. “Annually, the total number is
between 36 and 37 million. The bread
and butter of our revenue comes
from the commercial traffic base
that uses the bridge.”
With so many vehicles moving
across the bridge, keeping it safe for
road traffic is a top priority.
“A lot of work we do on the bridge
is continuously replacing steel,” said
Gregory Pawlowski, a senior project
engineer with DRBA. Both the steel
components of the bridge and the
suspension cables are replaced by
DRBA contractors on an ongoing
basis to keep the bridge safe.
However, shipping traffic
also passes beneath the Delaware
Memorial Bridge. And with the
recent collapse of the Key Bridge
in Baltimore, keeping the bridge
protected against ship strikes has
been a top priority.
With help from a $22 million
federal grant, the DRBA has
contracted to build circular concrete
structures known as “dolphins”
around the bridge legs. The dolphins,
which are about 80 feet in diameter,
are filled with sand to add to their
mass. “They’re about 15 feet above
the water and about 95 feet below,”
Pawlowski said. “If a ship hits and
destroys one, we can just replace it.”
But, he noted, “they’re designed
to stop a Neo-Panamax size ship,
which happens to be slightly bigger
than the Dali” — the ship that struck
the Key Bridge.
The target completion date for
the project is September of 2025. «
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