Residents who live closest to the Rt. 41-Hercules Road intersection continue to oppose upcoming road improvements.

In a Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) public workshop on May 5 attended by about 40 residents who live near the proposed construction and a handful who live elsewhere, the nearby residents reiterated concerns they voiced at a meeting two months ago.

They said they oppose expanding the intersection because it will thin foliage that screens their community pool, bring traffic and noise closer, and make it harder for residents to get out of their Westminster neighborhood.

Listed among Delaware’s 30 worst, the intersection has been in failure for at least three years. In that time, the roadway has seen 44 crashes, including 16 with injuries, according to DelDOT officials.

DelDOT’s plan includes a storm water management basin, a median, bicycle lanes, left turning lanes, right turning lanes and expanding to two through lanes in both directions on Rt. 41.

The $4 million project will let through-traffic on Rt. 41 move more efficiently, especially during peak hours. That will let engineers adjust the signal so more Hercules Road cars can get through the intersection during each signal cycle, which should reduce Hercules’ perennial peak-hour backups and gridlock.

However, speaking on behalf of the Westminster community, Civic Association Vice President Robert Hoffman said neighbors are skeptical the changes will help traffic, and fearful that they could make things worse.

“These are not necessarily improvements. Enlargement is a better word,” he said. “Lane enlargements will only promote speeding. Cars will jockey for position when merging from two lanes to one lane” near the Westminster entrance.

Traffic planning design engineer John Witchner explained that such concerns are natural, but that is not how engineering typically works for intersections like this one – where after construction one through-lane will widen to two 500 feet before the signal, then taper back to one lane after the signal.

The rule of thumb is that about a third of the through traffic will stack into the second lane during a red light. When the light turns green, both lanes begin moving through the intersection. Within 350 feet, sufficient gaps exist between accelerating cars to start merging, and the merge lane phases out in another 500 feet. In this case, cars will have merged into a single lane of traffic a full 700 feet before the Westminster entrance.

Intersections throughout the state with similar congestion problems have been re-engineered this way with great success -- Centerville Road at Rt. 48, Rt. 20 at Rt. 54 in Sussex County, and Airport at Churchman’s Road to name a few, according to DelDOT Design Resource Engineer Michael Balbierer.

“A total gridlock situation disappeared at Churchman’s Road when improvements were completed two years ago,” he said. “It is so much better, people ask why we needed to make the improvements at all.”

Other residents, like Andrew Foldi, a Westminster resident for 40 years, opposed the plan saying he worried that a car crashing into a utility pole near the pool could send high-voltage wires into the water, killing swimmers. None of the utility poles near the pool will be moved closer to it, DelDOT officials said.

Others were opposed to the aesthetic impact of losing mature trees to roadways, and others were skeptical that storm water would be properly diverted to new basins.

DelDOT hopes to begin the project in Spring 2009, and complete it by January 2010. However, the start date could be delayed by a lawsuit brought by neighbors staunchly opposed to the road project and Greenville Overlook, a Hercules Road development to which it is tied.

New Castle County approved the Toll Brothers’ plan to develop a golf course adjacent to the Hercules Research Center in late February. Since 2001, neighbors have opposed the 160-home plan, because of concerns about increased traffic and construction that will kick up soil saturated with landscaping chemicals.

As part of the subdivision process the developer is required to address vehicular impact generated by the new neighborhood. However, Toll has said it agreed to pay for work beyond the usual scope of improvements that DelDOT wanted. Early estimates of $1.4 million have climbed to $4 million, most of which will be paid by Toll.

However, Balbierer said there isn’t a minimum standard for the scope of work required by developers to mitigate increased traffic their projects create. The process of reviewing impacts and defining improvements to address the impacts is usually handled by the Planning/Subdivisions Sections.

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DelDOT’s public comment period on the proposed road project will remain open untl mid-June. Mail your concerns, comments or questions in writing to DelDOT Public Relations, P.O. Box 778, Dover, DE 19903. For more information about the project, visit www.deldot.gov, or call 302-760-2080.