FENWICK ISLAND – Fenwick Island Mayor Natalie Magdeburger says the town is looking to select a contractor and secure easements as it moves forward with a long-awaited sidewalk project.
In last week’s meeting of the Fenwick Island Town Council, Magdeburger presented community members with an update on the town’s sidewalk project. As part of its first phase, the town is looking to construct pathways along the west side of Coastal Highway.
“The sidewalk project is still moving forward,” she said. “We had put it out for bids, but unfortunately nobody submitted a bid.”
In 2019, Fenwick Island initiated the first phase of its sidewalk construction project, which includes five bayside blocks south of James Street. And in February, the Fenwick Island Town Council signed off on a contract with Century Engineering to begin design work for the first phase of construction this year.
With a contract to solicit construction bids completed, Magdeburger told community members last week the town was still waiting to select a contractor.
“The good news is since bids have closed, we have had a contractor contact us and he is very interested,” Magdeburger added. “He is going to look at what all it entails and hopefully we’ll get a good number we can bring back to council and everybody can hear about it in terms of whether it can be done and in what time period.”
Magdeburger noted the goal of the sidewalk construction project is to make Fenwick Island safe for pedestrians and improve access to local businesses.
“We’d like to get the sidewalks done prior to the opening of the season so that our businesses will have the benefit of having an easy pedestrian walkway for our people to come up and get into our businesses,” she said.
Magdeburger added that Councilman Ed Bishop, chair of the Fenwick Island Pedestrian Safety Committee, would also be meeting with commercial property owners in the coming weeks to secure easements for the sidewalk project.
“Ed will be coming around to the businesses that will be involved on the west side and getting the easements they need to do the work,” she explained. “Hopefully they’ll all sign off on it and get sidewalks before next season.”
Fenwick’s sidewalk project was also discussed at length during last week’s town symposium on bike and pedestrian safety. At that meeting, Jennifer Cinelli-Miller, the Delaware Department of Transportation’s (DelDOT) transportation planner for Sussex County, noted that construction of the remaining sidewalks had moved to No. 24 on the agency’s list of upcoming transportation projects.
“The town is scheduled for design work in a couple of years, with right-of-way acquisition starting in 2026 and into 2027 …,” she said. “With the limited availability of space on Route 1, it will be a challenge for acquisitions.”
Magdeburger told community members last Friday she was disappointed to learn that the sidewalk project had dropped from the No. 9 position in DelDOT’s Consolidated Transportation Plan.
“What was very disheartening to hear at the symposium is that despite the fact that Fenwick has been petitioning for sidewalks for decades now … we had dropped back down to 24, but we are on the list to have builds by 2026,” she said. “What that would mean is on the eastside, when the state does come in to build, they will come in through eminent domain and do it at their schedule.”
