Rothermel: Roads through Milford clogged by out-of-staters

First of all, I was born and raised in Milford. I grew up on New Wharf Road in the ’70s.

I rode my bike on now-Bay Road, which was being built and heading to the beaches. You know, where we locals can’t get to because of all the out-of-staters going there.

A ride that should only take a maximum of 30 minutes now can take two hours on that road. Even now, I have a time getting to CVS on the weekend, due to the backup of “beach traffic” on U.S. 113. Trying to get to Del. 14, I sometimes sit through light after light because the blooming idiots block us from crossing because they don’t care.

The biggest mistakes I have seen — which I know for a fact are slowing us down from doing a darn thing but staying home — are the stupid crossovers you all are building, one at a time, seemingly at all the death trap intersections. But did you ever think that, by taking out lights all over Delaware, you are only adding to the problem, and you are just making it easier on the out-of-staters, not the locals.

Yes, the overpasses allow the people in that area to cross over safely, but for the people that live in between or work in between these overpasses, taking the lights out (the only thing that stopped these idiots from a no-stop drive) has caused huge issues. I, as a past employee at a car dealership on Bay Road, had to learn how to play Russian roulette with my vehicle because I couldn’t get a break to pull out from work to go home. Sometimes, on a Thursday or Friday night, when I would get off at 8, I would sit there for sometimes a good five minutes just to pull out, flooring my car as fast as it would go just to not be hit.

These lights were our only break in traffic that we got. Think about it: These overpasses are only helping the locals who live near them, not the thousands of people in a town who need to get on these highways just to get to the bank, the grocery store, etc., and I feel imprisoned in my own town from Thursday to Sunday because I go nowhere because of traffic.

But, of course, I understand that the family from out of state is bringing more money to Delaware than me and my family because we are just locals. You only make so much off of us, so, of course, the out-of-staters are your money pits, not us. But we are paying for all of them to get there the fastest way. You go out on Del. 1 or U.S. 113, and it’s like you are qualifying for NASCAR, and I’m not a slow driver, but I don’t drive 80-90 mph either.

So keep on building those overpasses, so we locals can get nowhere. The businesses on these highways have to suffer, as no one wants to go to any place, taking a chance of being killed when having to cross over either a northbound or southbound place to visit a local business. When I sold cars, I would get all the time, “No, I won’t come in on Fridays or Saturdays due to trying to cross over that crazy highway.” Very sad! But keep on bowing down to the out-of-staters, as we continue to see more and more every year.

Tonya R. Rothermel

Milford

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