Millsboro bypass, interchange construction begins

MILLSBORO — Traffic is changing in Millsboro as the Sussex County town continues to grow, requiring new infrastructure developments such as a bypass and interchange to draw congested traffic away from the downtown district.

The new bypass, headed straight for downtown, will help alleviate some of the major congestion concerns that have plagued the area for years, according to Delaware’s Department of Transportation (DelDOT) Project Engineer George Pierce.

“If you look at it, according to traffic data, we see about 18,000 vehicles driving through Millsboro on Route 24 on any given day. By the year 2050, there will be an estimated 25,000 vehicles along the same road,” he told the Delaware Business Times.

That traffic, he added, will be cut in half after the new bypass and interchange are installed. The projects include four bridges along with the bypass itself and other infrastructure supports at various nearby intersections to support the changes, ultimately costing Delaware $85 million for the bypass and $32 million for the interchange in construction costs alone.

The bypass and interchange projects started in March of 2022, although it has been on DelDOT’s radar for decades. Pierce says workers behind the scenes hope to have the project wrapped up and ready to go by the end of the summer in 2025, putting a final end to impactful detours that will muddy up traffic between now and then.

“It will be a huge benefit to the town, especially to its downtown district,” Pierce told DBT. “There’s always impacts with construction and negative feedback related to those inconveniences with a project of this scale. But overall, as far as this project is concerned, everyone is anxious to have it completed. Outside of dealing with the day-to-day construction of the project, the feedback has been very positive.”

While rerouting some of Millsboro’s heaviest traffic patterns, Pierce said that DelDOT also had to contend with the local natural landscape which required a more environmentally-friendly approach to construction.

“We had to do an alternative project delivery for this and actually brought the contractor on board during the design project to assist us because it’s an extremely environmentally sensitive area,” Pierce told DBT. “We have had to use extremely low impact construction techniques in the area of the preserve, for example, and that was a huge hurdle with this project.”

All told, the Millsboro bypass and interchange projects originally involved less than one acre of wetlands and just over one acre of open water. Now, the project has a net zero impact to the local environmental areas, seeing a “significant reduction in environmental impact,” according to Pierce.

“Every project we have involved building highways and bridges. It’s about as anti-environmental as it can get. We obviously do extensive permitting for that stuff, but this one given the local wetland and wildlife areas was quite a challenge,” Pierce said.

While the project winds up as it drives at full speed ahead toward construction and completion, Pierce asked local residents and the business community to be aware of work zones and slow down.

“There’s a lot of people out there working next to 24 and on Route 113. There’s a lot of traffic and a lot of tempers. Just be aware that there’s people working. Stay safe and slow down,” he said.