Page 6 - WILMAPCO Transporter - Fall 2021

WILMAPCO, Partners Share Draft Recommendations
for New Castle Transportation
Last winter, WILMAPCO, the City of New Castle, and DelDOT kicked off an update to the 1999 City of New Castle Transportation Plan. This September, planners unveiled draft recommendations for walking, bicycling, driving, flooding, and freight.
Draft alternatives are based on community ideas that were shared at the first public workshop last February, a July pop-up workshop in Battery Park, and online.
The purposes of this plan are to:
• Improve the multimodal transportation network, provide connectivity to communities and trails, enhance health and livability, reduce illegal truck traffic, and improve safety.
• Address flooding and sea- level-rise impacts on land use and access to major transportation corridors.
• Improve gateways to the historic city.
• Develop a shared-parking analysis.
In addition to citywide recomm- endations for gateways, beautification, and reduced speed limits, the potential recommendations suggested ideas for key areas of concern at the intersections of SR 273 and SR 141, Ferry Cut Off/Delaware Street, SR 9 and Chestnut Street, and West 7th Street and Washington Street. At each of these locations, we address concerns raised by the community,
including cut-through traffic, trucks, and bicycle/pedestrian access.
At SR 273 and SR 141, planners presented three potential redesigns. Each provides for better traffic signal timing by converting the five-leg intersection to four legs. Each also includes improved connections to existing and proposed multiuse pathways.
At Ferry Cut Off and Delaware Street, potential designs include improved multiuse pathway connections to the intersection. One alternative redesigns the connection onto Delaware Street with a landscaped gateway island.
At SR 9 and Chestnut Street, the suggested design would transform the intersection with a “Dutch- style” median. This intersection currently incorrectly directs through-traffic onto 6th Street and lacks pedestrian/bicycle facilities. The concept would reconfigure the
intersection to smooth through- traffic movements, while those going into the historic area would need to turn. A more compact intersection would help alleviate flooding and make for easier crossings by people walking and bicycling.
At West 7th Street and Washington Street, the existing design sends traffic, including trucks, onto local streets. Options presented included enhanced signs and pavement markings, or a redesign to smooth the turn onto Washington Street.
Planners will use feedback from the community to refine recommendations. These will be presented at the third Public Workshop. In addition, an in- person City of New Castle Council Workshop is being scheduled for October.
Learn more or comment online at www.wilmapco.org/cityofnewcastle.
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