LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Is West Dover Connector really a parkway?

I am so happy that it was decided the West Dover Connector’s new name will pay homage to this nation’s warriors, some who lost time and others who are lost to us. [“It’s official: West Dover Connector receives a new name in ceremony,” article, Nov. 1] Considering their sacrifice, I cannot think of a better name for the road. I knew, if the powers that be dared name it after former Gov. Minner or her minion, Nathan Hayward, I was going to be writing some really derogatory letters here. It’s hard to be critical of the christening the road was given, but I’ll try my best. Nothing against our heroes, but where did the “Parkway” come into the naming of the road? I know of no parks there. Possibly some postage-stamp-sized strip of oddly shaped extraneous dirt has been earmarked for such, but I don’t see the children of Rodney Village swinging on swings there or playing hopscotch. I realize the Scouts of America have a lovely reservation in their area, and then, there is the Boys and Girls Club facility, but there is no park adjoining the road. All anyone will see as they travel that road is industrial-looking warehouses for latchkey kids, the Scouts’ high-rise berm and the back side of Rodney Village. I know all about the back side of Rodney Village: I used to live there when my old property was bordered by woodlands, a farmer’s field and a schoolyard. This might surprise some people, but the school was my worst neighbor. The only thing I can figure about calling the road a “parkway” is that it will certainly be an apt description when between 10,000 and 20,000 cars daily are going to be “parked” on it because of the “Redner’s traffic signal” that should never have been approved; and the years of construction that will go into widening U.S. 13 to accommodate it all. Anyone with a brain knows DelDOT is going to make a career out of the widening of U.S. 13, considering how many years it has taken them to bring the three-mile-long “Parkway” into fruition since it was a gleam in Ruth Ann Minner’s eyes. What should she care? She lives in Milford. Well, I’m not far from there myself, but I will never forget my disappointment when they first started talking about that road. It may come to be that long stretches of time will pass between my complaints regarding the road, but I am never going to let it rest until I am rolled into a hole.

Carol Hotte Felton