East Camden Bypass project construction begins

United States Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) hears from DelDOT Project Engineers Jay Evans (left) and Brad Saborio (right) with GPI Residential Engineer Drew Dryden and GPI Project Manager Shaun Long (middle) to learn about the East Camden Bypass road project which will alleviate traffic and increase safety for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists. A majority of the funding for the project is from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. l DBT PHOTO COURTESY OF JENNIFER ANTONIK

CAMDEN — After 20 years, a $40 million transportation project has finally broken ground in Camden with the help of some congressional funding and determined leaders behind the scenes.

A ceremony took place on July 10 for the East Camden Bypass, as it is now known, while Senator Tom Carper (D-Del) had an opportunity to visit the site later on Monday to get a first-hand look at how it could impact the area.

Along with other federal and state funding sources, Carper, Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) helped secure $17.8 million for the project from the Federal Highway Administration through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Congressionally Directed Spending process.

While construction has begun on the East Camden Bypass with hopes of completion by August 2025, construction for the second half of the job, the West Camden Bypass which will connect to the East Camden Bypass, will start in the fall, according to DelDOT Area Engineer Jay Evans. The West Camden Bypass is projected to be completed by December 2025. 

“Right now, the pedestrians have to walk on the side of the road which isn’t ideal. We’re giving them another path that is going to be off the road so it’s safer for them,” Evans told Carper during his visit. “We started this project on July 8th and hope to finish by August next year.”

In total, five transportation projects will help improve the Camden area, including the two bypass projects, as well as improvements to Walnut Shade Road and the U.S. 13 intersections at Lochmeath Way to Puncheon Run Road and Walnut Shade Road to Lochmeath Way. 

Leaders say the improvements will positively impact both the capacity and safety of nearby roadways.

“This is a complete, multimodal project that will again provide relief to the town, access to the businesses and improve safety overall,” Delaware’s Department of Transportation (DelDOT) Secretary Nicole Majeski said during the July groundbreaking ceremony, highlighting improved access to businesses for all modes of transportation and a new transit stop that will be installed at the East Camden Bypass location.

DelDOT Director of Community Relations C.R. McLeod told Carper during his visit in August that project completion is needed before business and residential growth continues without necessary improvements to local infrastructure.

“Anecdotally, one of the things I compare this area to. . . when you go back 30 years ago and you look at Route 1 in Sussex County, Lewes and Rehoboth, we didn’t adequately address traffic needs for the future before the growth happened. Doing these types of projects, with available space, looking ahead and saying we acquire this property for future projects now, we’re able to build these types of projects before we get landlocked, before this becomes another housing development or something else,” he said.

“This project came to us through the Kent County MPO [Metropolitan Planning Organization]. That’s where it started at the very grassroots level of – how do we get truck traffic out of these small towns? How do we address the growing traffic volume? So those organizations have really led the charge in prioritizing and bringing us projects that they feel are the most critical,” McLeod further explained.

Prior to development of the East and West Camden Bypasses in central Delaware, there was only one other bypass that worked its way through Kent County – Delaware Route 1 which runs from the Christiana Mall area in New Castle County down to the Dover Air Force Base as a bypass of U.S. Route 13. McLeod told the Delaware Business Times that this “was known as the U.S. 13 relief route.”

New Castle County is also home to two other bypasses – Interstate 494 in Wilmington which is a bypass of Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 301 in Middletown which bypasses the former U.S. 301. Sussex County currently does not have anything classified as a bypass, but McLeod told DBT that “. . .the North Millsboro Bypass is currently under construction in Sussex County and that is expected to be completed late summer 2025.”

Updates and recent public meetings regarding the Camden Area Projects can be explored online at https://camdenareaprojects.com/.