Thursday, May 26, 2005 Tom Meyer, Chief, Traffic Studies Group Tom, Thank you for taking the time to meet with Nick Alberti, Joe Reardon and me regarding our pedestrian safety concerns related to crossing Route 1. While we were disappointed to learn that a traffic light at the intersection of Route 1 and Bridge Road was 'out of the question' for the upcoming summer season, we are pleased that DelDot will: (1) immediately install four large florescent pedestrian signs, two in the North bound lanes and two in the South bound lanes (to call attention to the fact that that they are in an area which has numerous pedestrians crossing the road); (2) consider placing turning arrows on the pavement at the Bayberry and Bridge Road intersections (to direct u-turning traffic to the proper lane when turning); (3) review the results of the recent Bethany Beach pedestrian traffic studies to review there applicability to Middlesex Beach; and (4) will undertake a 'pedestrian warrant study' during the peak summertime period, which will take into consideration the level of pedestrian traffic, not only at the Bridge Road-Route 1 crossing, but also at the Bayberry, Errett and Addy Road intersection, which constitute the main Route 1 crossing points in Middlesex Beach. We understand that the pedestrian warrant study is an important criteria for determining the need of a traffic signal, but we were also pleased to learn that engineering discretion plays an important role, particularly in special situations such as ours involving both heavy seasonal volumes of traffic, and pedestrians crossing at several locations within our community. The primary issue driving our desire for a traffic signal at Bridge Road is making pedestrian crossing of Route 1 safer. What causes the concern for safety is the combination of the ever-increasing volume of traffic on Route 1 and the speed that that traffic travels. Adding to the safety concerns is the u-turning traffic from North bound lanes to the South, accessing the commercial establishments on the West side of Route 1. A secondary issue is the ingress/egress of traffic to the beach side of the community at Bridge Road, the only entrance/exit to and from the beach side of the community. As things now stand, during the summer months, and in the peak beach-going hours of from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, there are totally inadequate gaps in the traffic stream of adequate length to allow for the safe passage of pedestrians across the four-lane divided highway, Route 1. Most certainly, the leading cause of this, in the South bound lanes, is the traffic light at Sea Colony. That traffic signal alternately takes the South bound Route 1 traffic, combines it with Pennsylvania Avenue traffic entering Route 1, as well as the Sea Colony West/ shopping center East bound traffic entering Route 1 to ensure a practically uninterrupted stream of traffic along Route 1 through Middlesex Beach. When you combine this with turning traffic at our intersections of Bayberry and Bridge Roads, and add in the inadequate monitoring of speed (which has led to traffic traveling at speeds well above the posted limit) you naturally end up with a unsafe crossing conditions, one that can only get progressively worse as traffic volume grows. Our contention is that by placing a light at Bridge Road, it will bring down the speed, and establish a finite amount of time when there is an adequate length gap in traffic for both North and South bound traffic, which will allow a safer crossing for pedestrians. If such a light is synchronized with the lights to the North and South, it should not cause delays in through-traffic. We would certainly be receptive to alternatives which would address the lack of traffic stream gaps of adequate duration, that will allow for the safe crossing of Route 1. We appreciate your interest in this matter and look forward to working with you to solve this problem.