The US 301 corridor has been studied since the early 1960s. The two most recent efforts occurred in the 1990s. The US 301 Corridor Study sought an improved connection from US Route 301 at the Maryland/Delaware border, west of Middletown to I-95. As a result of this study, DelDOT announced that the Ridge Alternative, south of the C&D Canal, and the existing SR 896 corridor north of the Canal would be the location for the advancement of any future highway improvements.

The Greater Route 301 MIS (Major Investment Study) was designed to evaluate additional opportunities for regional transportation planning and the integration of transportation and land use to address the movement of people and goods. The MIS recommended east-west capacity improvements south of the canal to get to SR1, established current funding levels in DelDOT’s Capital Transportation Plan for the US Route 301 corridor, and recommended evaluation of capacity improvements in the US Route 301 corridor both along the existing Route 301 alignment and a Ridge Alternative corridor. This resulted in renewed efforts to preserve land along the Ridge Alternative for future highway improvements.

This project development effort will evaluate, in greater detail, improvements from US Route 301 at the Maryland/Delaware border to the recently constructed SR 1, south of the C&D Canal, per the Greater Route 301 MIS recommendation.

Project Limits

This project development effort will evaluate improvements from US Route 301 at the Maryland/Delaware border to the recently constructed SR 1, south of the C&D Canal, per the Greater Route 301 MIS recommendation.

Project Need

Need for this project is founded in an existing roadway system that lacks capacity for current and future traffic volumes and that has had sections appear almost yearly on DelDOT’s list of High Accident locations. Earlier studies, indicated below, have identified the lack of capacity and safety concerns on the existing roadway system in the project area. Continuing growth in the project area since those studies, in the forms of population, employment and dwelling units, has only added to the need to provide additional roadway capacity in the project area. This increased growth, without additional roadway capacity, places more vehicles on the same roadways every day, also increasing the potential for accidents to occur.

Project Schedule

The current project schedule calls for the completion of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) during the summer of 2007. The filing of the FEIS is anticipated in late summer/early fall 2007, with Federal Highway Administration approval (Record of Decision) projected for Fall 2007.