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Wed June 30, 2004 - Northeast Edition
DOVER, DE (AP) Just one year after celebrating the completion of Delaware’s major north-south highway artery — the most expensive public works project in state history — officials said part of the highway will have to be shut down and completely rebuilt.
Transportation Secretary Nathan Hayward III said concrete is crumbling along a segment of Del. 1 between the U.S. 13 split at Tybouts Corner and Del. 273, the first section of the $894-million roadway to be built, from 1987 to 1993.
The problem is common in concrete produced in the 1970s and 1980s after environmental regulations changed the way it was made, officials said. Similar problems forced the state to rebuild sections of Interstate 495 during the 1990s.
“It’s very sick pavement … and there is no cure other than rebuilding,” Hayward said.
Legislators have included $1 million in the capital budget for next year to plan the work.
Senate Majority Leader Harris B. McDowell III, D-Wilmington, said the problem suggests a failing by previous generations of state transportation officials.
“It amazes me that the Romans laid concrete 2,000 years ago that’s still in service, and that we can’t get concrete that lasts 30 years,” he said.
Carolann Wicks, the Department of Transportation’s chief engineer, said concrete highways with normal maintenance are expected to last 30 to 40 years.
Rep. Roger P. Roy, R-Wilmington, a co-chairman of the legislature’s capital budget committee, said engineers predicted concrete crumbling on Del. 1 after the I-495 problems were discovered. But no one knew how long it would take a chemical reaction to eat away the highway to the point that it had to be replaced.
Reconstruction of the roadway will cost about $10 million and take a full construction season to complete. The work could begin next year.
The closing of the road is likely to cause major headaches for commuters who live south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and work in Wilmington and northern New Castle County.
“It’s going to be awful,” Hayward said. “There are already backups at the split. Can you imagine what that will be like when this goes to one lane?”
Hayward and Wicks told lawmakers that transportation officials were exploring construction options to try to ease the impact on motorists. Those options include shutting down one side of the highway at a time and using the other side for one-lane, two-way traffic. The state also could keep one lane open to traffic on both sides of the road.
No matter what option is chosen, the project will be a nightmare for thousands of commuters, Hayward said.
“We’ve had to close down major highways for work before, and we’ll do what we can to make it easier,” said Gov. Ruth Ann Minner. “But in the end, we’ll all have to bite the bullet and tough this out.”