The bridge engineer is of the opinion that the current bridge is beyond repair. They did a detailed inspection during November 2022 and discovered too much delaminating (concrete was separating from the concrete and falling away), and corroding rebars. They saw water dripping through the concrete. So with those structural issues and traffic volume issues, there's every reason to believe that they have decided to replace the bridge. DelDOT has forecast an increase in volume considering that new residential developments are happening or planned to happen on the north side of Seaford. Way too many sand and gravel dump trucks are using the bridge. There is no designated truck route directing the trucks away from the bridge. There is no weight limit on the bridge, though a long time ago there was one. Supposedly the traffic at the intersection is pretty bad at morning and evening rush hours, with traffic backing up to Old Meadow Road. We have not personally seen this, but that's what people said.
According to Delaware's Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs the bridge has a status of being "determined eligible" for the National Register of Historic Places.
DelDOT has not decided what the sides of the bridge will look like. They offer no guarantee that the bridge will retain the pretty arch shape. The bridge engineer recognizes how a bridge can act like a dam during extreme flooding events and back water up upstream of the bridge. They do want to widen it to have 2 - 11' wide travel lanes with 2 - 6' wide shoulder/bike lanes. Currently it is 20' between the side walls. They are planning to use retaining walls for the bridge approaches on each side to limit wetland impacts. Several large trees along the roadway would be cut down for this project. The National Wetlands Inventory map (see above) shows a lot of forested freshwater wetlands next to the bridge approaches.
The main purpose of the meeting was to get public input on what to do at the nearby intersection of Old Furnace Road and Middleford Road. Too many accidents there, thet say. Concept A was to put in a traffic light and Concept B was to put in a (small) 100' roundabout. Both these options would have about the same impact on getting new easements and right-of-ways. Both concepts show a small stormwater management basin off of the intersection. That would be an environmental improvement. Too bad that an old house will be demolished to make room for that. The 1930s house was originally used as a storage building by Robert Purvis for machine shop machinery. The building has been investigated by Delaware's Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs but is not National Register-listed.
An idea put forward by the locals to reduce the traffic backups was simply to remove one of the three stop signs at the intersection. The new stop sign people want removed is on the heavy-traffic Georgetown side of the intersection. Prior to 2020 the sign was not there. The DelDOT bureaucrats huffed and puffed that doing that would be against their policies.
Construction is roughly planned to begin in 2028. DelDOT says there will be more informational meetings as planning and design continues. They recognize that environmental permits will be needed.
DelDOT is taking email and snail mail public comments until July 24. Please comment using DelDOT's questionnaire below. Environmental protection needs to be a high priority.