Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway Delaware Chapter 4.0 Background Conditions The designation of a roadway as a State of Delaware Byway or a National Scenic Byway should not impede the intended purpose of that roadway to safely and efficiently move goods and people. Therefore, as part of this Corridor Management Plan (CMP), it is important to evaluate the current/existing and future conditions of the roadway being designated. Displaying, summarizing and analyzing existing data pertaining to roadway physical characteristics, traffic volumes, levels of service, accident locations and other significant data will assist with and provide awareness of the various operational and physical characteristics that should be considered during designation and implementation of the Scenic Byway. This collection of data also familiarizes the reader of this CMP with the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway roadway characteristics. These characteristics should be considered in corridor planning efforts and future decision-making. In addition, the data serves as a baseline for any future analysis on the impacts of Scenic Byway designation and implementation of projects. 4.1 Roadway Characteristics The corridor generally travels northeast from southern Delaware at the Maryland/Delaware border, picking up where the Maryland Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway terminates, through Dover and Wilmington before heading northwest and terminating at the Delaware/Pennsylvania border. The total length of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway is approximately 98 miles. This Corridor Management Plan (CMP) has divided the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway into four (4) segments to assist with the review and graphical representation of the corridor analysis. The corridor segment maps are shown in Figures 2 through 5. The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway traverses two (2) Delaware counties: Kent County and New Castle County. See Figure 1 for a detailed map of the corridor limits. 4.2 General Design Characteristics The general design characteristics of a roadway or corridor are important to understand before assessing a scenic corridor as it provides the baseline of comparison and evaluation. The design characteristics of a roadway include such factors as lane width, number of driving lanes and median types. Table 4-1 below presents the design characteristics of the corridor. Corridor Management Plan (CMP) - 2012 Page 76 Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway Delaware Table 4-1: General Roadway Design Characteristics Total Roadway Segment Route Width Driving Lanes Median Delaware State None or Border (Sandtown) to raised/grass, 8 Segment 1 Cheswold 21 to 74 feet Varies from 2 to 4 to 25 feet None or raised/grass, 8 Segment 2 Cheswold to Odessa 18 to 50 feet Varies from 2 to 4 to 16 feet None or Odessa to raised/grass, 3 Segment 3 Wilmington 22 to 71 feet Varies from 2 to 4 to16 feet Wilmington to None or Delaware State raised/grass, 2 Segment 4 Border 22 to 68 feet Varies from 2 to 6 to 99 feet Table 4-1 depicts that the corridor generally ranges from two (2) to six (6) lanes with total roadway widths of 18 to 74 feet and has limited medians throughout the corridor limits. Most of the corridor is rural/suburban in nature with occasional urban sections through communities, such as Dover, New Castle and Wilmington. Figures 11 through 15 highlight the roadway lane totals (# of lanes) along the corridor. 4.3 Speed Limits The speed limits along the corridor are depicted in Figures 16 through 20 and were confirmed using the DelDOT speed limit database, field review and high-definition video review of the corridor. The average speed limit of the entire corridor (when averaged as a whole) is 40 miles per hour (mph). Within town/city limits (transitioning suburban to urban areas) the speed limit generally drops below 40 mph to 35 mph and 25 mph. Speed limits are enforced by the Delaware State Police and the local (city or county) police force. The Delaware Code, Title 21, Chapter 41 references all speed restrictions along roadways. The following speed limit requirements are currently presented in the Delaware Code: 1) 25 mph in any business district; 2) 25 mph in any residential district; 3) 50 mph on 2-lane roadways; and 4) 55 mph on 4-lane roadways and on divided roadways. Scenic Byway designation (State or National) will have no effect on the speed limits assigned to the roadway. Corridor Management Plan (CMP) - 2012 Page 77 - HARRIET TUBMAN Camden UNDERGROUND RAILROAD BYWAY Delaware Brandywine Valley Byway Limit Scenic Byway AÒ Red Clay Valley Scenic Byway AÓ ?Ê !"`$ %&b( White Clay Creek P E N N S Y L V A N I A State Park Wilmington !"`$ N E W J E R S E Y M A R Y L A N D %&a( LEGEND Lower Susquehanna !"`$ Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway Scenic Byway New Castle ?¬ Roadway Total Number of Lanes 6 Lanes N E W C A S T L E 4 Lanes C O U N T Y Delaware City Lums Pond 3 Lanes State Park 2 Lanes Basemap Layers Chesapeake Port Penn )p Other Scenic Byways Bay ?Î Limited Access Highway ?¬ Highway (U.S. and State) Other Major Road MiddletownOdessa )p Source: DelDOT, Delaware DataMIL and TranSystems NOTE: Total Lanes for segments along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway depicted on this map were verified using the most recent Google Earth software and corresponding aerial photography ?¹ at the time of map development. ?© D M Smyrna Chesapeake Country Bombay Hook E Scenic Byway A National L R Wildlife Refuge A Y W L Route 9 Coastal Delaware Heritage Scenic Byway A A Cheswold ?¬ N R D E ?¹ Bay K E N T C O U N T Y Dover Little Creek Wildlife Area Harriet Tubman Underground Byway Limit Ted Harvey Railroad Byway (Maryland) Wildlife Area ?± ³ Sandtown 0 3 6 Miles Figure 11: Total Roadway Lanes (Project Study Area) Smyrna ?© - HARRIET TUBMAN UNDERGROUND RAILROAD BYWAY Delaware Garrisons R D ?Ç E R LEGEND V Lake INSEAÙT B O IC ?Ç D S IP Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway E )h L Route 9 Coastal Heritage Roadway Total Number of Lanes Scenic Byway 6 Lanes N S T 4 Lanes A T Cheswold E ?¬ 3 Lanes S Dover T 2 Lanes ?¹ ?Ç Basemap Layers Silver Lake )h Other Scenic Byways ?¡ Limited Access Highway Highway (U.S. and State) RD Other Major Road KER WAL Source: DelDOT, Delaware DataMIL and TranSystems ³ W Y ?¹ O T O M L I N L G R O M See A I CAMDEN INSET L ?¹ D L S R Inset B D T A Dover T E D HARTLY RD S A T R L B ?« BS EB A Dover E W Y L D R T L D S I A O N R IO A O S V N VI D I S O R D )h FORREST AVE T R R K U U R FORREST AVE H B A W L S ?« T O E C R N U N A T H H ?± ST )h O ?¹ N S A J M T D ER A INSET A D R CK T O R O E N L L O S Brecknock L N I T A D S M B R Park S E L D B IL T L A L M F N T T A R O M LLABA E ND G O S U S R D N H A H MI A B G S L R S L N T T E T R D T S R T N R N O S S S T E D O T A M N O S L T A R S MIL G LL E C SHE H VO RD D C D L S HERN BOULEVAR AM RD U R HIL VILLE RD SOUT D L TA T WEST E N M S D N-W O NO Y A R M See Camden Y OM EB S R IN L S E O I I G A W ST B L S V D E H E D L IN W U G ?« A R T T D R S L R H H IL D U N L H D R S N TA L R /S O I L R IL S M T P K ELS N TTidb uryC O U N T Y D E L T E U M K E N T C O U N T Y SH V U O V A N Inset O D D Creek C T R YP L L E G R A O E Park W D W S S R H T S ³ O V N L O T L O L B N I S U O A M H R B I C W L E O A E L L U T L T R L S D N U W E D R S C R E L T H ?¹ T Camden L R R ?² I L T I M G R E S R S IN M D D G O R IN U S H V A U G E M N R R O R V D S D O S V Camden H RD O L S E MIL H LL )h E L See LS LL RD M AR HI I LL ST Inset A WAY H T A E M D H C R L O ³ D G D R M N I )h E K D E R A ?± HA E S P HTURB TRAVEL DIRECTION T L U P R N U L Two-Way Byway Direction A A W Y TRAVEL DIRECTION D R W NB LL L GI Northbound One-Way Byway Direction OW C Y R A A N HE Southbound One-Way Byway Direction N R SB D E D R E D A H S T U Harriet Tubman Underground N L A Railroad Byway (Maryland) W ?± Sandtown )h ³ 0 1 2 Byway Limit Miles Figure 12: Total Roadway Lanes (Segment 1) Port Penn D R E IN T S )p U G U A RNER RD O 5 T C 42 S N CAYOT I A S ?Î - B L A C K Y HARRIET TUB BMAN I K R D P G T R ?¬ E N E N O UNDERGROUND RAILS ROAD BYWAY P P R U I N D G R ?¹ Delaware D WN ETO DL M ID D A M A R T OMdessa SS S DE S A S Middletown O IN E H Y C S T S B T H I 5 U L D R R e l a w V a C r e O H D E )p A R R R E K D X R i v D I e C T r I L 11 W 9 AR S A A T K W T N D E A R V Y A N R W D W ND L N R O Y O M H D )h O G T K RAU N E A T ST O D G R S Y X L R B R VE O OO E S E AR N CH L E S H S E LL A N SMYRNA INSET L HI S Y K C A P B O R C D K IN S B GR H B D ?Î L R U I U A I I D R R C D D C ?¡D U M K M G D H S C D T F R K A R M O E L D R L D R L ?¹ C U I I L O I R S E R P RD T N O S K M E IC L R D G N T E D Y W B R T R E K R E A R E P C W V D L E R A N L I L R O E D N D A T A K IL L G S C Y W E E P C T A E R R N O Y ?¡ D I D I P N N R E G E ?¹ R R T D D T )h O S Y ?© IN W G L A K L M CLAYTON DELANEY RD F P T E L K O W D E E D R E W L R M R A E I C N C N D KN R C R R O U G D C L D L See I L M A K Y HO E N Inset A LL E ETTS C N OR T L D B D NER RD D L R I R A L R N E IV ST NE E N G A T R ELLA LA MAI C X E R Smyrna K E N D B D R )h I R O ?© D D C GTON R ST MILLIN LO A NG T D M R IDG ION E R RD D D R C R E E L O A T D N A R G R E E N R E X V L E D A A O E T L L R E N N E L R N D G E R Y S Y R R ?¹ I P K D C A R O E D G R Y IN E N R G E D R R R W D D L G VA RE N D EN Y S K A P E A RI NG R D N R ?¡ INSET A D E )h N E W C A S T L E T S S M D E U C A )h P C O U N T Y R IN D E O M S R T N M O T L C B L I ?© W L V M D Y ?© E See Smyrna L HTURB TRAVEL DIRECTION L A Two-Way Byway Direction Inset SMYRNA TRAVEL DIRECTION CLAYTON BLVD Lake NB Smyrna Como Northbound One-Way Byway Direction Park D ?© R N A O D Lake Southbound One-Way Byway Direction T L G L U SB IN E Como LL Y P I O M C O N R T ³ N B S E L M LEGEND R V Y R D D R Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway B N L A A K E N T C O U N T Y Bombay Hook C L K E NationalWildlife Roadway Total Number of Lanes IS I T P Refuge O Garrisons S N I 6 Lanes C R Lake R D D ?Ç D 4 Lanes G R AÙ DIN ?Ç LAN T S 3 Lanes A F 2 Lanes S E VE Route 9 Coastal Heritage N H Basemap Layers ICK Scenic Byway OR IES Cheswold E RD R ?¬ Other Scenic Byways ILL D SV Limited Access Highway ER L ?¹ ?Ç UD S K Highway (U.S.