<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2qQbQz_1Gr8ABjv00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2qQbQz_1Gr8ABjv00" width="800" height="496" ></figure>With Route 9 traffic as far as the eye can see becoming a common occurrence on many days, Sussex County and state officials are giving residents insight into efforts to ease growing congestion.The state is trying to determine how to improve traffic on the key east-west corridor as housing sprawl into rural farms and forests creates year-round problems on Route 9 and other roads that were not built to handle it.The heavy volume also contributes to worsening seasonal beach traffic that shares the same country routes. Meanwhile, the state recently released the 2026 Coastal Corridors Study Annual Report, focusing on Routes 9 and 16.A Route 9 corridor study public workshop is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 17. The study is the first large-scale coordinated planning process conducted jointly by the state and Sussex County planning staff.The county's Planning &amp; Zoning Department and the Office of State Planning Coordination have scheduled the workshop from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Georgetown CHEER Center at 20520 Sand Hill Road.The Route 9 corridor study was started at the direction of Gov. Matt Meyer’s Executive Order 16, signed Jan. 30, which set in motion reviews of both Route 9, between Georgetown and Five Points near Lewes, and Route 113, between Georgetown and Millsboro.The seven-month review will create a land-use plan for the Route 9 corridor in advance of the county’s comprehensive plan update, due by the end of 2028. The Route 113 corridor study is expected to follow the Route 9 plan.“The Route 9 corridor study is an excellent example of intergovernmental cooperation,” said Planning &amp; Zoning Department Director Jamie Whitehouse at a Sept. 28 meeting of state and county officials in Georgetown.The Route 9 corridor study began by looking at an area one mile wide on each side of the highway, but that was expanded to adjacent areas that could also be developed, Whitehouse said.That led to a review of the potential for development over 30 years of an oddly shaped 3,600-acre area that in some places extended five miles from Route 9.For the first time, the public will get to see the review of the area, known as “The Shark,” at the Nov. 17 meeting.“We call it The Shark,” Whitehouse said. “It’s not shark because it’s an acronym; it’s because it actually looks like a shark.”Delaware Department of Transportation Secretary Shanté Hastings said at the Sept. 28 meeting that the plan will take into account all forms of transportation, such as roads, bicycle and walking paths, and public transportation.The Route 9 study may be completed by the end of the year, Whitehouse said.The Coastal Corridors Study report, available on the DelDOT website, outlines the progress of the study of Routes 9 and 16. Route 24 is the subject of a separate study.Coastal Corridors looks at the potential and challenges of widening Route 9.Recommendations are included in two studies finalized in 2024, split by Route 113. They are: Coastal Corridors East, known as the "Coastal Corridors Study: US Route 9 and State Route 16," and Coastal Corridors West: known as the "Greenwood/Bridgeville Transportation Plan."The 2026 report outlines activities from August 2024 to June 2026 for Phase 2 of the Coastal Corridors East study. Highlights include updates on projects, studies and recommendations; analysis of more recent traffic counts and forecasts; and discussion of forming a monitoring committee and public outreach efforts. The purpose of the analysis was to better understand potential impacts to the roadway system from future development pattern scenarios in the county, and transportation infrastructure concepts on or near the corridors.</div></body>

Block Source: Cape Gazette

Misinformation

Clickbait

Old or repetitive news

Explicit content

Location not relevant

With Route 9 traffic as far as the eye can see becoming a common occurrence on many days, Sussex County and state officials are giving residents insight into efforts to ease growing congestion. The state is trying to determine how to improve traffic on the key east-west corridor as housing...

Development around Route 9 topic of Nov. 17 public workshop

NewsBreak

With Route 9 traffic as far as the eye can see becoming a common occurrence on many days, Sussex County and state officials are giving residents insight in

Development around Route 9 topic of Nov. 17 public workshop

Comments / 2