The Evolution of Delaware's North-South Freeway

In Delaware, State Route 1 is the second-longest route in the state, less than one mile shorter than US Route 13's mileage in the state (102.6 miles vs. 103.3 miles). This designation first came about in the 1970s, eventually replacing Delaware Route 14 south of Milford. As time went on, the highway overlapped (and eventually replaced) US Route 113 from Milford to Dover and was extended up what was once called the "US-13 Relief Route" from Dover to Christiana.  Various scenes of Delaware Route 1 are shown below, all photos are from my personal collection.

Left: Southbound approach to William V. Roth, Jr. Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Bridge in the Delaware City area.
Middle: Southbound view of the Milford Bypass near the Milford Hospital.
Right: Indian River Inlet Bridge at Delaware Seashore State Park.

The Early Days of the Milford Bypass

The Milford Bypass was planned as part of the original dualization of Delaware Route 14 (today's DE-1), between Five Points/Lewes and Milford, with three alignments under consideration.  The map below, from a 1957 engineering report on the expansion of the road, shows the three alternatives considered for the Milford Bypass.

Three alternatives considered for the alignment of the Milford Bypass in 1957.  Source: Delaware State Highway Department, Engineering Report, State Route 14: Five Points to US Route 113, Sussex County, Delaware (1957).  Reproduced with permission from the Delaware Public Archives.

These alignments can be described as follows, heading north/west from Road 207/Johnson Road:

• Line I (recommended) - Heading generally westerly to a trumpet interchange with US-113 south of Seabury Avenue.
• Line II - Following today's alignment to the Rehoboth Boulevard interchange (just north of the Milford Hospital), then running west-southwesterly towards US-113 south of Seabury Avenue.
  
• Line III - Today's alignment, though US-113 is the preferred route at the Milford Bypass/US-113 interchange, instead of the Milford Bypass.

More detailed plans for the proposed Line I alignment can be found here, from the same document.  These images were "stitched together" by me.

There was a short period when the section between today's DE-1/US-113 split in the northern part of Milford and today's DE-1/DE-1 Business/DE-30 interchange in the southern part of Milford had no state route designation. Below are some excerpts from DelDOT plans from 1967, showing how this undesignated route was signed.

 
Left: Northbound signage approaching the southern portion of the Milford Bypass (today, this would be at DE-1 and DE-1 Business).
Middle: Signage on DE-36 approaching the Milford Bypass.
Right: Southbound signage approaching the northern portion of the Milford Bypass.
Source: DelDOT Historical Plans, Project ID 67-08-008.

The Planned US-301 Freeway

Believe it or not, the Milford Bypass was the first freeway-like segment of today's Route 1 that was constructed, first appearing on DelDOT's state highway maps in 1967 and opening in 1971. Prior to that, the only seriously considered plans I know of related to a long north-south freeway in Delaware were for an upgraded US-301, connecting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Annapolis, Maryland to the Delaware Memorial Bridge in New Castle. This road would have only made it as far as Middletown, not serving anywhere further south in Delaware.

However, these plans for the US-301 freeway were serious enough to warrant construction of the current Summit Bridge and its approaches, built in the late 1950s, to freeway standards. According to the historical plans DelDOT has made available on the state's public GIS database (FirstMap), the US-301 freeway was to have ended at I-95 somewhere between DE-72 and Salem Church Road, with a cloverleaf interchange at US-40 in the Glasgow Park area, eventually reaching the Summit Bridge.  In the Summit Bridge area, there was a planned interchange at DE-71 on the north side of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, as well as a planned interchange with DE-896 on the south side of the canal.

Freeway-like approaches to the Summit Bridge, heading northbound.  Footage from my dashcam (September 2023).

Diversion: Proposed Highways in Delaware in the 1950s

Like many other states, Delaware had numerous highways proposed in the 1950s.  This will mainly review the Delaware State Highway Department's (DelDOT's predecessor) 1959 document Controlled Access Highways: A Report by the Delaware State Highway Department on Future Highway Needs.  I read this document at the Delaware Public Archives in July 2023.

This map shows the state's long term plans for a highway network, as of 1959.  Some of these plans are described in detail below.  Source: Controlled Access Highways: A Report by the Delaware State Highway Department on Future Highway Needs (1959).  Reproduced with permission from the Delaware Public Archives.

The US-301 Expressway

Numerous sources described a US-301 freeway in the Middletown area.  The earliest document was Connecting Highways Between the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the Maryland Line Near Warwick, dating to December 1950.  This described many routes between New Castle and Middletown, including those that would have followed the Saint Georges Bridge (today's US-13 bridge, then the main bridge across the canal) and those that would have followed a new Summit Bridge (today's Summit Bridge).  Some maps from this document are linked below, reproduced with permission from the Delaware Public Archives:

• Recommended Alignment (on filtered map, focused on major roads in New Castle County)
  
• Recommended Alignment (on general New Castle County map)
• Interchange with US-40 (today's I-295/US-40) at Delaware Memorial Bridge approaches
  
• Interchange with US-13 and US-40 at State Road
  
• Summit Bridge approaches and interchanges with DE-71 and DE-896
  

In the Delaware State Highway Department's Controlled Access Highways, the plans for a US-301 expressway were similar to those described above, running from I-95 near Newark down to the Summit Bridge.  The plans shown in the FirstMap database have a trumpet interchange (commonly seen on the Pennsylvania Turnpike) between I-95 and US-301, while 1959 plans for I-95, prepared by the firm Howard, Needles, Tammen, and Bergendoff show a directional "Y" interchange at the proposed US-301 expressway with left exits and entrances on I-95 southbound (commonly seen in Connecticut).

Frederica and West Dover Bypass

The Controlled Access Highways document recommended a new alignment for US-113 between Frederica and Dover, plus a West Dover Bypass.  An engineering report was prepared by the firm De Leuw, Cather, and Brill in 1959, which described this proposed bypass in detail.  The Delaware Public Archives gave me permission to reproduce these maps, showing how the West Dover Bypass would have been aligned.

This map shows the alignment considered for the West Dover Bypass, which was never constructed.  Source: State of Delaware Highway Department, Supplement to Engineering Report, Proposed Divided Highway from Frederica to Dover, Kent County (1959).  Reproduced with permission from the Delaware Public Archives.

The West Dover Bypass had proposed interchanges with US-13 (north of DE-10) in Camden, DE-8 (east of Kenton Road) in Dover, terminating at US-13 (south of Denneys Road) in North Dover.  The US-13 and DE-8 interchanges were both proposed near where Redners supermarkets are today.  The northern terminus is near where the Delaware Technical and Community College Terry Campus is today, incidentally also near a Redners.  Detailed plans of the section from Camden to North Dover are shown here, from the same document ("stitched together" by me).

US-13 Relief Route

Controlled Access Highways expressed the need for a US-13 relief route, not just within Dover, but also between Dover and Middletown.  It described a route to the west of US-13, serving as a "connection between Route 71 at Middletown, passing west of Smyrna, and connected with the West Dover Bypass."  This document recommended that the relief route be constructed as a two-lane highway with eventual expansion to four lanes.  More detail on eventual plans for the US-13 relief route are described throughout this article.

I-95 Relief Route

It wasn't just US-13 that Delaware was looking to relieve.  Controlled Access Highways showed considerations for a route "projecting Route 71 to the north of and parallel to Kirkwood Highway," to relieve I-95.  The report went on to say that the "feasibility of this particular route [...] will be greatly affected by the location of suburban development."

Other Proposals

Controlled Access Highways presented a few more highways throughout Delware, none of which were ever constructed:

• Route 202 or Route 41 Relief Route: No further detail other than "another connection to the Pennsylvania Highway System would be necessary."
• Frederica/Milford to Bay Bridge: Extension of the South Milford Bypass down to the Maryland line east of Denton (Burrsville area).  This would provide a connection to Route 404 and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.  This would eventually provide a connection between Milford and Frederica, presumably to connect with the Frederica Bypass.
• Southern US-13 Relief Route: Described as running from Dover to Greenwood, "considerably to the west of US-13, which now bypasses all present communities on the eastern side."
• Milford to Georgetown: Suggested improving US-113 from Milford to Georgetown with a four-lane route, including frontage roads to serve existing development.
• Central Sussex County East-West Route: Initially proposed as a "new highway between Georgetown and the beaches," with the eastern terminus proposed "immediately north of the Indian River."  After that statement, though, is a very interesting comment.  "...or further north, depending on developments related to a Delaware Bay Crossing to Cape May."  This makes one wonder if there were plans for a Delaware Bay Bridge at the time.  Not as interesting, but later in the document, it is suggested that this highway continue west to Seaford and the Maryland state line.

Early Plans for US-13 Relief: The Westerly Route

I described the US-301 freeway here because, apparently, the earliest public mention of a long-distance north-south freeway proposal in Delaware was in a 1972 article in Wilmington's Morning News. The map shown on this article implies that the planned freeway likely would have followed the proposed US-301 freeway from I-95 to Middletown, taking its own route south to Camden (the next town south of Dover).  Interestingly, the 1972 proposed route was entirely to the west of US-13, by several miles in some cases, contrasting with today's DE-1 which zig-zags over and under US-13 multiple times. The 1972 article's map is shown below.

Proposal for a north-south freeway between Newark and Dover, from a 1972 Wilmington Morning News article.  Source: Delaware Turnpike Scrapbooks (Delaware Public Archives).

That being said, we know that the westerly route of what would become Delaware Route 1 never came to fruition. There was never a freeway built across the Summit Bridge, though Delaware Route 896 did receive some major upgrades between I-95 and the bridge in the 1990s to handle increasing traffic. In Dover, the West Dover Bypass, one of the predecessors of the north-south freeway, was highly controversial, especially among farmers. Today's DE-1 runs east of US-13 at all points south of Smyrna, including Dover.

Additional articles from Dover's Delaware State News (1975), Wilmington's Morning News (1976), and Wilmington's News Journal (1978) describe early proposals for the road. In 1975, Governor Sherman W. Tribbitt announced his opposition to the construction of the road. In 1976, outgoing Secretary of DelDOT Clifford Hall proposed making the north-south freeway part of the Interstate highway system, allowing for 90% Federal funding of the project, with Delaware Turnpike (I-95) surplus tolls paying the remaining 10%. In the same article, incoming Governor Pierre S. DuPont IV announced that he opposed the West Dover Bypass, echoing concerns from the agricultural community. That said, multiple 1978 articles discussed the same Governor DuPont working with a committee to "review the possibilities" for the road, presumably on other alignments.

Shifting to the East: Today's Route

A 1985 article in the Delaware State News suggested that the plans for Route 1 were narrowed down to a "near-west" and "near-east" alignment, presumably referring to its alignment relative to US-13. The 1987 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the US-13 Relief Route, today's Route 1, covered the distance from DE-7 and DE-71 near Red Lion to US-113 at the Dover Air Force Base (AFB) or Frederica, depending on the selected alternative.

The 1987 EIS split the road into three segments: Odessa (Red Lion to Blackbird), Smyrna (Blackbird to Cheswold), and Dover (Cheswold to Dover AFB or Frederica). The Odessa and Smyrna segments had Railroad, Near East/Near West, and Upgrade alternatives. The Dover segment had Western Alignments and Eastern Alignments as alternatives, as well as an Upgrade alternative. A map of the alternatives is shown below.

Proposed alternatives for the US-13 Relief Route, between Red Lion and central Kent County.  Source: US-13 Relief Route Draft Environmental Impact Statement (1987).

South of Middletown, the Railroad alternatives in the Odessa and Smyrna segments were similar to what was shown in the 1972 Wilmington Morning News article. They approximately follow the route of the Delmarva Central Railroad, which runs a fairly straight path down the state, until it splits at Harrington. Ultimately, the alternatives selected were Near East, Near West/Near East, and the Eastern Alignments, respectively.

The illustrations below are from the 1987 EIS for the Relief Route, showing the potential visual impacts of the highway, particularly from the upgrade alternative. Personally, I cannot imagine how a direct upgrade of US-13 would have looked in Smyrna or Dover, with the highway passing directly through those towns.

Interchanges Left Incomplete or Unconstructed

There is one interchange on the DE-1 freeway that remains incomplete. In Dover, the planned ramp from southbound Bay Road to northbound DE-1 was never constructed, though there was concrete laid on DE-1 for the entrance ramp. However, plans from 1989 suggest that this was a "future ramp," though I've never heard of any plans to actually construct it. Currently, this movement is served by making a u-turn from southbound Bay Road at the Lafferty Lane stoplight, then taking the northbound Bay Road to northbound DE-1 ramp.

Right-of-way plans for DE-1 showing the aforementioned "future ramp."  Source: DelDOT Historical Plans, Project ID 89-11-101.

In the Blackbird/Townsend area, there were plans for an interchange with US-13 and DE-71. This was even shown on maps made available to the general public, like the ADC New Castle County, Delaware Street Map Book from 1997. However, it appears that only the original right-of-way acquisitions showed plans for this interchange.  The actual construction plans do not show an interchange here, which would explain why there is no real evidence of the proposed interchange's path today.

1983 right-of-way acquisition plans for DE-1, between Smyrna Rest Area and the Blackbird area.  Note the proposed interchange with US-13 near DE-71.  Source: DelDOT Historical Plans, Project ID 83-11-002e.

1991 construction plans for DE-1, between Smyrna Rest Area and the Blackbird area.  Note the lack of interchange with US-13 near DE-71. Source: DelDOT Historical Plans, Project ID 91-11-014.

Beyond US-13 Relief: Removing At-Grade Intersections from Dover to Lewes

The US-13 Relief Route was only intended to run as far south as Dover Air Force Base.  A strict definition would place it a bit further north at Exit 97, the Puncheon Run Connector, a short freeway spur that runs to US-13 at the southernmost part of Dover, around the Rodney Village neighborhood.  Over the years, though, DelDOT has upgraded numerous at-grade intersections along Route 1 to grade-separated interchanges.  These are designed to improve traffic flow and safety along the route, especially during the busy summer months, as the road takes travelers to the Delaware Beaches and Ocean City, Maryland.  Upgrades were made at the following locations, arranged north to south:

• Delaware Route 9 (Kitts Hummock)
• Bowers Beach Road (Magnolia)
• Delaware Route 12 (North Frederica)
• Milford Neck Road (South Frederica)
• Thompsonville Road (North Milford)
• Delaware Route 14 (Downtown Milford)
• Delaware Route 30 (South Milford)

The DE-14 overpass at DE-1 on May 18, 2019, its opening day, eliminating a dangerous crossover for traffic going to and from Downtown Milford, the largest city in the southern half of the state.  Photo from my personal collection.

As of this writing (January 2024), DelDOT is constructing a grade separated interchange at DE-16, east of Milton.  This would remove the last stoplight between I-95 and the Five Points intersection outside of Lewes.  After this, they plan to construct a grade-separations at two intersections between Lewes and Milton: Minos Conaway Road (planned construction beginning in Summer 2024) and Cave Neck Road (planned construction beginning in Spring 2026).

DelDOT has published long-term plans for Route 1 on their website, under the Corridor Capacity Preservation Program.  This includes the following plans for DE-1, according to the Proposed 2022 SR1 Plan Update Maps (retrieved on January 2, 2024).  I am presenting these summarized plans in north-to-south order.  Note that the long-term plans appear to include frontage roads for considerable distances where there are multiple direct accesses to DE-1 today.

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Sources Consulted

• US-13 Relief Route Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Route 7 to US-113)
• Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) Historical Transportation Plans
• Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) Historical State Highway Maps
• Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) Corridor Capacity Preservation Program
• Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) Projects Portal
• Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) Aerial Imagery
• Delaware Turnpike Scrapbooks (Delaware Public Archives)
• Connecting Highways Between the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the Maryland Line Near Warwick: A Report to the State of Delaware Highway Department, prepared by Knappen Tippetts Abbett Engineering Company, New York, December 1950 (read at the Delaware Public Archives in Dover)
• Controlled Access Highways: A Report by the Delaware State Highway Department on Future Highway Needs, May 1959 (read at the Delaware Public Archives in Dover)
• Delaware Interstate Highway Route FAI-1, Delaware State Highway Department, prepared by Howard, Needles, Tammen, and Bergendoff Consulting Engineers, 1959 (read at the Delaware Public Archives in Dover)
• Delaware State Highway Department, Engineering Report, State Route 14: Five Points to US Route 113, Sussex County, Delaware, prepared by Rummel, Klepper, and Kahl Consulting Engineers, Baltimore, 1957 (read at the Delaware Public Archives in Dover)
  
• State of Delaware Highway Department, Supplement to Engineering Report, Proposed Divided Highway from Frederica to Dover, Kent County, prepared by De Leuw, Cather, and Brill Engineers - Architects, New York, 1959 (read at the Delaware Public Archives in Dover)
• ADC New Castle County, Delaware Street Map Book, 1997