The Department of Transportation is calling attention to several projects in southern Kent County. They are: the Thompsonville intersection (1), the U.S. 113 and Del. Route 1 bridge (2), Carpenters Pit Road (3), the Little Heaven intersection (4), the south Frederica intersection (5) and the Northeast Front Street intersection (6). (Submitted photo by Delaware Department of Transportation)
MILFORD — Construction projects located in southern Kent County are either underway or set to begin soon.
In all, six large Transportation Department projects centered on Del. 1 in the southeastern portion of Kent — ranging from Bowers Beach to Milford — will be completed over the next few years.
According to DelDOT, the work will “improve the flow of traffic through, and within, the greater Milford area.”
Detours will be in effect for all of the construction when the work begins.
Some of the work has been delayed due to a lack of funds, but a bill that passed the General Assembly this year created new revenue for DelDOT by raising some Division of Motor Vehicles fees imposed on motorists.
In turn, DelDOT also is borrowing more money.
An agency spokesman said that a number of construction projects taking place around one area is coincidental.
• Construction on a grade-separated intersection will replace the current intersection of Del. 1 and Thompsonville Road and extend to the intersection of Church Hill and Tub Mill Pond. Thompsonville Road will be closed later this month.
• On Sept. 14, the traffic signal at the intersection of Thompsonville Road and Del. 1 will be removed to allow for the construction of ramps on Del. 1. They are expected to be complete by spring, and the entire project, including a bridge across Del. 1, should be finished by the fall of 2016.
• The Milford area also will see the closure of the bridge between U.S. 113 and Del. 1. It will be shut down for 14 days while the north roadway is repaved. The roads themselves will not be closed.
• In October, Carpenter Pit Road will be shut down for a currently unspecified period of time to turn it into a two-way road.
The Little Heaven grade-separated intersection, providing service roads near Del. 1 and a bridge over Bowers Beach Road, will commence in October.
Traffic can use the new service roads until the bridge is opened. When complete, the project will allow drivers to enter and exit Del. 1 from the north and south. The work will take three years, according to DelDOT.
• The intersection by the site of the Kent County Regional Sports Complex in south Frederica will go out to bid soon, with work beginning in the spring.
The project will allow for temporary access to the complex site, with the finished construction to include entrance and exit ramps from Del. 1 and a service road that crosses over Del. 1 and connects Milford Neck and Tub Mill Pond roads.
It is expected to take three years.
Sports complex organizers hope to open the facility in a year.
• The final item, the Northeast Front Street intersection, is set for further in the future. DelDOT plans to start preparing for the construction by purchasing right-of-way, with a groundbreaking in fall 2017.
The project, which will take two years, will extend a service road from Northeast 10th Street south to Northeast Front Street and create a bridge over Del. 1 between Northeast Front Street and New Wharf Road.
Cost information is as follows:
Thompsonville intersection: $15 million
U.S. 113 bridge: $560,255.51
Carpenters Pit Road: $403,831.54
Little Heaven intersection: $40 million
South Frederica intersection: $22 million
Northeast Front Street intersection: $16 million
Further details and project updates are available at www.deldot.gov/information/projects/sr1/.