FENWICK ISLAND – As Fenwick Island awaits the start of a town-wide resiliency study, officials are encouraging residents to participate in upcoming virtual workshops involving a resiliency plan for Route 1.
On Tuesday, Sept. 20, the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) will hold two, one-hour public workshops to present plans for a resiliency study of the Route 1 corridor.
Fenwick Island Councilman Richard Been, chair of the town’s infrastructure committee, encouraged members this week to tune in to the virtual workshops.
“It will all dovetail with our own resiliency study as well,” he said.
The goal of the DelDOT study, the agency reports, is to examine the impacts of climate change and sea-level rise on transportation infrastructure and to incorporate resiliency measures in the planning, design, construction and maintenance of projects.
“DelDOT has been and continues to be challenged by the effects of sea-level rise (SLR) and frequently flooded roadways,” a statement reads. “And the SR1 corridor between Dewey Beach and the Maryland state line is particularly vulnerable with effects coming from oceanside as well as bayside.”
The statement continues, “This section of SR1 is a primary evacuation route for Bethany Beach, South Bethany, Fenwick Island, and Ocean City, Maryland. This planning study will allow the Delaware Department of Transportation to develop short and long-term solutions to help protect this important roadway for both the economic stability of the state and the safety of the traveling public.”
Last year, DelDOT applied for, and was awarded, a grant to conduct a resiliency study of Route 1. And while work has already begun, officials are now holding public workshops.
The first virtual workshop will be held Sept. 20, with the first session being held from 5-6 p.m. and the second session being held from 6-7 p.m. Both sessions will contain the same content and format.
For more information, or to access the meeting link, visit www.deldot.gov/projects/Studies/sr1-coastal-corridor/.
In the meantime, officials in Fenwick Island say the town is still waiting to proceed with its own resiliency study, which is being funded through a grant provided by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC).
In this week’s infrastructure committee meeting, Been noted the approval process between DNREC and AECOM, the company the town selected to complete the project, had brought the project to a standstill in recent months.
