Newslettter June 2016
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June, 2016 Vol. 37, Issue 2 Journeys The Newsletter of the Dover/Kent County Metropolitan Planning Organization Vision 2040: Dover/ Kent County MPO updates its Metropolitan transportation plan o you live or work in Although some of the local trans- Improvements to Kenton Road Kent County? portation projects in the draft Vi- DHow’s the traffi c conges- sion 2040 plan will carry over from The proposed widening of U.S. 13 tion in your area? What kinds the existing MTP, there will be of things do you think will be some diff erences too. A new fed- A grade-separated intersection priorities for central Delaware eral transportation bill, enacted at Rt. 1 and Northeast Front over the next 10 to 20 years? last December, provides additional Street in the Milford area. funding for highways and transit, The Dover/Kent County MPO wants Proposed Bicycle and Pe- and requires more detailed perfor- destrian projects include: the public’s answers to these ques- mance measures for safety, bridg- tions as it pursues input for Vision es, pavement and other categories. More sidewalks along 2040, the MPO’s draft update to U.S. 13 in Dover its long-range Metropolitan Trans- Per the new transportation bill, portation Plan (MTP). The MTP is Fixing America’s Surface Transpor- The Proposed Senator Bike- one of the Metropolitan Planning tation, highways and transit will way Project along Rt. 8 Organization’s core projects. The receive 2 percent more money per document looks toward how cen- year, starting in Fiscal Year 2017. A proposed bike tral Delaware’s transportation net- trail along Route 10. work can and should take shape in Kent County is projected to re- the next 20 or more years, and sets ceive between $800 million and Vision 2040 will have more em- measureable goals for the process. $900 million in state and federal phasis on freight — another carry funds between now and the year over from the previous transpor- The MTP’s primary goals are to 2040, based upon historical trends. tation bill, Moving Ahead for Prog- move people safely and effi cient- The draft Vision 2040 document ress in the 21st Century. Last year, ly, strengthen communities and lists about 35 road projects and 12 Delaware updated its freight plan, promote economic development. walk and bicycle projects that are and became one of the fi rst states considered to be “fi nancially rea- to take freight planning a step fur- This is the fi fth update to the sonable.” These projects include: ther by joining with Maryland and MPO’s long-range plan. Federal Virginia to create a regional freight law requires MPO’s to update their The proposed Camden Bypass plan for the Delmarva Peninsula. long-range plans every four years. See MTP, Pg. 2 Journeys Pg. 2 MTP, continued from Pg. 1 The MPO’s campaign for public input will run through most of the summer. So far, MPO staff has attended a number of municipal meetings to talk about the MTP and collect some input. However, there are several ways in which the public can contribute opinions. Part of this initiative is a survey, which is available through the MPO’s website, www.doverkentm- po.org. Comments also are welcome via e-mail to Pub- lic Outreach Manager Kate Layton at kate.lay- [email protected], and on the MPO’s Facebook and Twitter pages. The comment pe- riod will end in August to give MPO staff time to incorporate the input into the draft document and then in to the MPO’s approval process. If the MPO Council approves the draft MTP document in January 2017, the MTP will go to the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administra- tion for adoption. For more information, call the MPO offi ce at (302) 387-6026. Want to take the MTP survey? It just takes a few minutes. Go to www.doverkentmpo.org. You also can follow this link to go directly to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K95L9M7 TIP Tour 2016 shows future project sites The Dover/Kent County MPO would like to thank everyone who attended its bus tour of transportation improvement sites. The free, guided tour was held on April 20, and was open to the public. The tour sites were ones that are included in the MPO’s long-range transportation plan, or the Metropolitan Transporta- tion Plan, and will be in the agency’s FY 2017-2020 Transportation Improvement Program. These sites included: • The Crawford Carroll Avenue extension • Kenton Road improvements • The proposed roundabout at Forrest and Loocker- man streets • The proposed Camden Bypass • The section of U.S. 13 slated for widening • Remaining proposed grade-separated intersections on Route 1. Special thanks also go to the Delaware Transit Cor- poration and the Delaware Department of Transpor- tation for all their help to make this one of the MPO’s more successful tours. Journeys Pg. 3 DART daily resort service returns Visitors can take the bus to the beaches hh, the beach. There’s nothing like a day of sun, tion along the resort area corridor. Route 202 will sand, and salt water. Memorial Day weekend is restart for a couple more weekends from Sept. 11 Atypically the start of beach season in Delaware. to 25. Buses for all the routes are air conditioned, ADA accessible and equipped with bicycle racks. That also was the start of DART First State’s daily resort service. DART is now running seven bus routes serv- For the complete Route 202 schedule and bus stops, ing Rehoboth Beach and the boardwalk, Lewes, Long visit DartFirstState.com/Resort. Visitors and resi- Neck, Dewey Beach, Ruddertowne, Bethany Beach, dents are encouraged to use DART’s Park & Ride lot, South Bethany Beach, Fenwick Island and Ocean City, located just off of Rt. 1 on Shuttle Road, just north Md. The service operates seven days a week from 7 a.m. of the entrance to Rehoboth Avenue. The park- to 2 a.m. Daily resort service will run through Sept. 11. ing rate is $8 per car, per day, and includes up to four free daily passes. One way cash fares are $2. For those who wanted to get a jump start to Customers may also buy all-day passes for $4.20. their beach weekends, DART started a limit- ed weekend resort bus service three weeks early. The Delaware Transit Corporation, a subsidiary of the Delaware Department of Transportation (Del- From May 7 to 22, DART operated a new Route 202 DOT), operates DART First State. For information on Saturdays and Sundays between the Rehoboth on fi xed route bus services statewide, please call Park & Ride, the Tanger Outlets, Midway Shop- 1-800-652-DART or visit www.DartFirstState.com. ping Center and the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk. Delaware Transit Corporation CEO John Sisson said that the weekend service came after sever- al requests, and to help alleviate traffi c conges- Journeysys Pg.Pg. 4 Air Quality Partnership of Delaware kicks off new season of air quality action season and ground-level ozone awareness e’d all like to breathe passing grades to Kent and Sus- healthy adults to breathe. Delaware a little easier. The Air sex counties for particle pollution had several orange and red ozone- WQuality Partnership of (soot) emissions, while New Castle code days between the years 2012 Delaware works every day of the County failed in that category. Most and2014. year to help that happen, and espe- of the Dover/Kent County MPO’s cially in the spring and summer. jurisdiction is in Kent County, but Kara Coats, deputy secretary of the includes small areas of New Cas- Delaware Department of Natural On April 22, the AQP offi cially tle County in Smyrna and Sussex Resources and Environmental Con- started Air Quality Action Season County in Milford. trol (DNREC), said Earth Day was for 2016 at an Earth Day and Arbor an occasion to pause and celebrate Day celebration in Wilmington. At Ground-level ozone is created our environmental successes and the event, AQP members, along when heat and sunlight mix with promote the continued protection with Wilmington city offi cials talk- nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide, of our planet. ed about the importance of good air quality. “Our future depends upon clean air and clean water, “The persistent prob- and I encourage all Dela- lem of unhealthy days wareans to take meaning- of high ozone continues ful actions that will help to be a struggle for Del- protect and conserve our awareans, especially for natural resources and im- those with lung disease, prove our quality of life,” like asthma or COPD,” Coats said. Deborah Brown, pres- ident and CEO of the Coats also read a procla- American Lung Associ- mation from Gov. Jack ation of the mid-Atlan- Markell, making May 2-6 tic said at the Earth Day PICTURED LEFT TO RIGHT: Deb Brown, president and CEO of the Air Quality Awareness celebration. “Reducing American Lung Association of the mid-Atlantic, Herb White, urban Week. The proclamation pollution will only be- forest administrator for the City of Wilmington, Jennifer Adkins, also urged Delawareans come more challenging executive director of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary and to do their share then, and because warmer tem- Kara Coats, deputy secretary of DNREC, show it takes teamwork to throughout the year to peratures increase the improve air quality. combat air pollution. risk for ozone and par- According to DNREC’s Division of ticle pollution, and make cleaning which often are found in industrial up the air harder in the future.