First, closing the Lockmeath way intersection solved a lot of problems. The state does not need to spend any money buying out that guy's liquor store in order to widen the intersection. Conversely, the liquor store owner can quit complaining that the fair market value that the state is offering for his property isn't fair. Despite this seemingly inexpensive solution, I would not be surprised if litigation about this property continues. My thought on this subject: Do you really need another light there now? My answer would be no. Let's use the resources for something more productive.
For the longest time before and even after they did anything to the intersection, the paper had been printing various rants and raves about why the intersection needs a light, what will happen if it closed, etc. Well, it closed and the number of accidents since then? Zero (as far as I can tell). If you need to get Northbound, you can go through the limited access roads to get to the Walmart light or do a u-turn down the road.
The foreseeable consequence of the new intersection pattern is that it has increased the traffic near Walmart. If you're trying to get to the light from the first road, sometimes it takes a little while to get out, and even then it poses the danger of some less patient driver zipping through and causing an accident. So here's my pitch how to fix it, with minimal costs to the state and the surrounding property owners: do the same thing there that you did at Lockmeath.
Effectively, this prevents anyone from going across that intersection. If you want to leave Walmart, you'll have to go to exit near the front of the store. Exiting traffic from Lowes would have to yield to any car in the intersection. Entering traffic from 13 to Walmart could still go straight or turn right. To get to Lowes from 13, they would have to enter at the intersection past the light. Also, my idea would close the second back entrance into that shopping complex before the light. It's way too confusing for the average driver.
So there's my first thoughts on how to make Dover a little better. We'll see what deaf ears it falls on.
Next time on Anonymous Delawarean: I'm going to do an entry about the types of jobs that are available to college graduates in Delaware. There was a rather uninformed letter in the State News recently about why the public high schools should not force kids to succeed academically because some people want to drop out and be a drag on our economy. That sort of letter begs for a response.
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