By Rachel Sawicki

MIDDLETOWN — A slew of construction projects for traffic improvements in Middletown are finally underway and scheduled for completion in just two years. A review and update was presented to the town, Planning and Zoning Commission and Town Council in a special meeting with DelDOT on Wednesday night to comprehensively present approved projects under the Eastown Transportation Improvement District.

The overall Middletown Master Transportation Plan was a joint town and DelDOT planning effort completed in 2005 to implement a comprehensive strategy for mitigating congestion along the U.S. 301 corridor and SR 299.

Identified improvements included widening 299, traffic signals at New Street/Gloucester Boulevard/SR299 and Cedar Lane Road/SR71, a roundabout at Cedar Lane Road and Marl Pit Road, and an East Lake Street extension from Silver Lake Road to New Street. Middletown residents have been waiting for the start of these projects for over 15 years.

“This is exciting where the plans are finally on paper, the money is there, and it’s all going to be worth it in the long run,” Middletown Mayor Kenneth Branner Jr. said. “People can see it and now they can see the construction and see what the end result is going to be.”

The Eastown TID agreement was signed in January 2019 to prepare Middletown for increasing residential and commercial growth and address transportation infrastructure challenges to ensure the continuing economic vitality and quality of life for the area. In any TID, land use and transportation are planned in detail in advance, so that a development fee can be determined and then collected before construction begins. This also allows development to forgo the Traffic Impact Study process.

The first proposed build scenario for the Eastown TID only included road extensions at East Lake Street, Silver Lake Road and East Green Street.

The second scenario includes many more improvements that will keep intersection delays above failing service standards. An A rating is best, but the minimum is E, equal to 79 seconds or less. The goals are to keep intersection delays at no more than 80 seconds, except for the intersection of SR299/Main Street and SR71/Broad Street, which aims for no more than a 110-second delay during the weekday evening peak hours.

“So we tried Build Scenario One and basically … that wasn’t enough,” said Sarah Coakley, principal planner. “So then we added additional improvements to get the service level down to D or E.”

Some additional improvements in the second scenario include roundabouts at Brick Mill Road/Dove Run Centre Drive and Marl Pit Road/Shallcross Lake Road, turn lanes on East and West Green Street to Broad Street and converting a three-way stop-controlled intersection to a signalized intersection by adding a right turn lane from Cedar Lane Road to South Broad Street and a left turn lane from South Broad Street to Cedar Lane Road.

“All of this stuff is scheduled to be done in two years,” Mayor Branner said. “That’s why I thought it was important to have this (special meeting) tonight so everybody in the Planning and Zoning Commission knows exactly where we are and what is on the books.”

He added that developers have committed to the plan as well, an important aspect of improvements since they will be footing nearly one-third of the bill. Single family detached residential development will be charged $2,535 per unit, multi-family residential (which includes townhomes) are charged $1,268 per unit. Office and commercial spaces are $3.04 per square foot and institutional and industrial is $1.77 per square foot. These fees are subject to an increase of up to 4 percent per year, not compounded.

The total estimated cost of construction projects under the Eastown TID is $23,890,520, which has already been collected and funded.

DelDOT estimates an additional 5,229 a.m. peak hour trips and 7,006 p.m. peak hour trips by 2045, assuming there is no more developable land at that time, including the proposed 1.2-million-square-foot ChristianaCare expansion. These numbers were estimated by the Synchro Traffic Impact Analysis Model, which is used across the country for public impact analyses. The model assesses the impact of future traffic generated by proposed property developments.

The next comprehensive update is due in 2024 at the earliest, which should then show updates from the 299 widening project and others.

More information and full details on the Eastown TID is available here.