UPDATED: Bethany Beach to Begin Review of Proposed Pedestrian Pathway
The Bethany Beach Town Council will begin a review process of a proposed pedestrian pathway that will create a continuous and connected pedestrian pathway on Collins Street, Kent Avenue and Wellington Parkway. The review process will begin during a Public Workshop on Monday, December 12th at 10 am at Bethany Beach Town Hall. At the Workshop, drawings of the proposed pathway will be presented to the Council for their review. No vote, or decision of any kind, will be made by the Town Council at the Workshop.
Additional information from the Town of Bethany Beach:
Subsequently, the Town Council will host two Special Meetings on January 13th, one meeting at 3 PM and one meeting at 5 PM, where the Town’s engineer(s) will brief attendees in detail on the proposed pathway. The Town Council will hear public comment at these Special Meetings.
The 3 PM meeting on January 13th will review plans and hear comment regarding the path on Kent Avenue and Wellington Parkway and the 5 PM meeting on January 13th will review plans and hear comment on the Collins Street pathway.
The Town Council will not vote at the January 13th Special Meetings but will formally consider the project at their Town Council meeting on January 20th, at 2PM.
The Town Council is considering the construction of this pathway following recommendations from two separate pedestrian safety studies of community streets. Both studies recognize the Collins corridor as a major pedestrian throughfare and collector street for the community and both studies also recognize that the Collins corridor is not safe for pedestrian traffic. Both recommend the construction of a pedestrian pathway on the street.
In fact, Collins Street from Kent Avenue to Bethany West is one of the Town’s narrower right of ways, measuring 40 feet in width. The blacktop portion of the right of way is only 20 feet wide, unwalkable and provides no “safe haven” to stand or walk when cars are passing each other. The larger the vehicles driving on Collins, the less safe the street becomes.
In 2019 the Bethany Beach Town Council voted unanimously to create a 5-foot-wide pathway on the south side of Collins Street. But before the path could be constructed, Covid “happened” and limited the Town’s access to its engineers and the project stalled. During this period the Town worked to address the major shortcomings of its initial plans. Subsequently, the Town asked our engineers to make the path on Collins safer and more usable by increasing its width from 5 feet to 8 feet and to work with the Delaware Department of Transportation to create a safe pathway from Half Moon Drive to the east side of Delaware Route 1.
Plans were developed that widened the Collins pathway to 8 feet in width and connected the path to a 10 feet wide path on Kent Avenue, leading to a pedestrian crosswalk with a Rapid Flash Pedestrian Beacon at the intersection of Wellington Parkway and Kent Avenue. The path continues at 5 feet in width onto Wellington Parkway to the intersection of Wellington Parkway and Delaware Route 1, where a newly constructed pedestrian crosswalk and a Rapid Flash Pedestrian Beacon helps to assure safe passage to the east side of Delaware Route 1.
To be clear:
The proposed pathway on Collins Street will be 8 feet wide and located on the south side of the street and run from Half Moon Drive to Kent Avenue. This larger pathway would be created by shifting the roadway 3 feet to the north into the Town’s right of way. Please note that the Council has already approved using 5 feet of the Town’s right of way on the south side for a pedestrian pathway. This new proposal only addresses using 3 feet from the north side to enlarge the pathway to make it safer.
The proposed pathway on Kent Avenue will be 10 feet wide and located on the west side of the street and run from Collins Street to Wellington Parkway.
The proposed pathway on Wellington Parkway will be 5 feet wide, located on the south side of the road and run the length of the 300 block.
The proposed pathways on all three streets are entirely in the publicly owned Town right of way.
Every property owner along the route of the proposed pathway will receive a mailing that will provide a detailed drawing of the pathway in front of their home.
If you are interested in learning more about this proposed project, please plan to attend the meetings listed above. If you are unable to attend, live audio and video of these meetings will be broadcast during the meeting and available online after the meeting at www.townofbethanybeach.com. Simply click on Government-Town Council-Live Audio/Video Recordings or https://www.youtube.com/bethanybeachgov
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AFTER THE MONDAY, DEC 12 MEETING
THE COLLINS PROJECT, IF APPROVED, WILL BE FUNDED WITH THESE GRANTSÂ
$672,153 – ARPA Grant funds (American Rescue Plan Act)
$250,000Â – State Bond Bill funds
$922,153 Total
If the contract plus engineering/inspection invoices are less than the $922,153 in those two grants then we will use the remaining ARPA funds for other paving or street safely related projects.
COLLINS STREET PATHWAY AND ROADWAY IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
Prior to construction:
- Mailboxes will be moved out of-the right-of-way**
- Trash bins will be moved out of the right-of -way**
- Fences and other amenities will be moved out of the right-of-way
**These items will be moved as construction progresses.
- Stop and speed limit signs will be relocated out of the right of right-of-way as needed.
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During construction:
- Mail service and trash service will continue uninterrupted.
- Driveway access will be maintained at all times
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Following construction:
- Mailboxes and trash bin locations will be adjusted as needed.
- All signage will be permanently installed.
- All driveways will be returned to their pre-construction condition. Driveway materials will be replaced in kind. This includes stone, asphalt, concrete, and pavers. Elevations will be carefully maintained at the driveway and asphalt surface tie ins.
