Delaware State Route System

Interstate and U.S. Routes The Interstate Highways and U.S. Routes in Delaware are numbered according to a national numbering pattern. Interstate Highways that run north–south have odd numbers, increasing from west to east, while those that run east–west have even numbers, increasing from south to north. Major north–south Interstates have numbers ending in 5 while major east–west Interstates have numbers ending in 0. Three-digit Interstates begin with odd numbers if they are a spur and an even number if they are a bypass or beltway and repeat numbers in different states. U.S. Routes that run north–south have odd numbers, increasing from east to west, while those that run east–west have even numbers, increasing from north to south. Major north–south U.S. Routes have numbers ending in 1 while major east–west U.S. Routes have numbers ending in 0. As such, U.S. Route 13 (US 13) runs north–south through the entire length of Delaware while US 40, a major U.S. Route running from Utah to New Jersey, passes east–west through northern New Castle County. US 113 serves as a branch of US 13 in the southern part of the state. US 9 is an exception to the numbering pattern as it runs east–west across Sussex County, though the route runs north–south in New Jersey and New York. These routes are largely assigned in a pattern similar to the Interstate and U.S. routes. Odd-numbered routes generally run north–south and even-numbered routes generally run east–west. A grid pattern exists for several low-numbered east–west state routes that increases from north to south, starting with DE 2 in northern Delaware and continuing south to DE 26 in the southern part of the state. There is also a pattern for some low-numbered north–south routes beginning with DE 1 in the east and continuing to DE 11 in the west. Several routes in Delaware are numbered as continuations of Maryland and Pennsylvania state routes, without regard to the even/odd pattern. Examples include DE 52, which is a southern continuation of PA 52, and DE 273, which is an eastern continuation of MD 273. Delaware does not prohibit duplication between route numbers of different systems. There are two examples of duplication between U.S. and state routes within Delaware. US 9 exists in Sussex County while DE 9 is located in Kent and New Castle counties. US 202 passes through the Wilmington area in northern New Castle County, with DE 202 heading south from an interchange with I-95 and US 202 along Concord Avenue into the city of Wilmington. Maintenance road numbers Every road that is maintained by DelDOT, including Interstate, U.S., and state routes, is assigned a maintenance road number (also known as a reference number). The maintenance road numbers are only unique in a specific county and some roads can be designated with multiple road numbers. For example, Bryants Corner Road in Kent County is designated as Road 205, Road 103, and Road 219. Interstate, U.S., and state routes have maintenance road numbers that often do not match their signed route numbers. For instance, DE 261 in New Castle County is designated as Road 203. ==Highway systems==

The Delaware State Route System includes Delaware's portion of the Interstate Highway System and U.S. Highway System along with state routes. The system also includes special routes of the U.S. and state routes, such as alternate, business, and truck routes. Suffixed routes also exist for short alignments that branch off their parent routes, in which a letter suffix is added after the route number. DE 1 has three suffixed routes in the Rehoboth Beach area while DE 9A provides access to the Port of Wilmington from DE 9. Some exceptions to DelDOT maintenance include the bridges over the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which are maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Delaware Memorial Bridge, which is maintained by the Delaware River and Bay Authority (DRBA). A total of of Delaware's roadways are part of the National Highway System, a system of highways important to the United States's economy, defense, and mobility. This system includes all the Interstate Highways in Delaware, other principal arterials which connect to intermodal transportation facilities, and the Strategic Highway Network which provides connections to major military facilities in the United States. The longest route overall in Delaware is US 13 at , with DE 1 being the longest state route at . At a length of , I-95 is the longest of Delaware's three Interstate Highways. Tolls are also collected along the DE 1 freeway, with mainline toll plazas at Dover and Biddles Corner and ramp tolls at North Dover, South Smyrna, and Boyds Corner. Tolls along I-95 and DE 1 may be paid with cash or an electronic toll collection system known as E-ZPass. The DRBA also collects tolls for the Delaware Memorial Bridge for motorists entering Delaware from New Jersey using cash or E-ZPass. Highways and other transportation projects in Delaware are funded through both the Transportation Trust Fund and the Federal Highway Trust Fund. The Transportation Trust Fund receives revenue from tolls along I-95 and DE 1, motor fuel taxes of 23 cents per gallon on gasoline and 22 cents per gallon on special fuels, motor vehicle document and registration fees, and DMV fees. In 2013, revenues from the Transportation Trust Fund were $445.4 million while revenue from the Federal Highway Trust Fund totaled $214.5 million. Six byways make up the system, including one National Scenic Byway. ==History==

Early roads The Native Americans who originally inhabited Delaware used waterways to travel, with land trails connecting different bodies of water. Between the arrival of the Swedish colonists to Delaware and the 20th century, roads in Delaware were maintained by individual counties. During the course of the 18th century, the road network in Delaware became more developed and provided links to waterways, which were still the primary mode of transportation at the time. In 1908, Thomas Coleman DuPont proposed a modern road that was to run the length of the state from Selbyville north to Wilmington as part of a philanthropic measure. This roadway was planned to improve travel and bring economic development to Kent and Sussex counties. The DuPont Highway was to be modeled after the great boulevards of Europe and was to have a wide right-of-way consisting of a wide roadway for automobiles flanked by dual trolley lines, wide roadways for heavy vehicles, wide unpaved roadways for horses, and sidewalks. Utilities were to be buried underground below the horse roadways. The highway was also to include agricultural experimental stations and monuments for future surveying. Trolley revenues would help pay for the construction of the roadway. After portions of the DuPont Highway were built, these portions were planned to be turned over to the state at no charge. The Coleman DuPont Road, Inc. was established in 1911 and construction of the DuPont Highway began. The Delaware State Highway Department (DSHD) was created on April 2, 1917 to construct and maintain a system of state highways across Delaware. As a result, the state took over construction of the DuPont Highway. The DuPont Highway was a boon to southern Delaware, which had formerly been economically isolated from the large cities of the northeast. In conjunction with the rise of the automobile, the highway spurred the growth of the Delaware Beaches by greatly improving access to the coast for tourists from northern Delaware and adjacent portions of the Northeast megalopolis. Southern Delaware also developed into a major truck farming region due to having much greater access to urban markets. No longer fully reliant on the railroads to transport their goods, farmers in Sussex and Kent counties could market their fruits, vegetables, and broiler chickens directly to consumers in the north. Also during this time, the State Aid Road Law ushered in a period of highway improvement in which the county would offer road bonds and the state would match. The DSHD would then improve the highway. Most of the highways improved by the DSHD were built as concrete roads, with sharp curves eliminated. The state also took over the last of the private turnpikes and converted them to free roads. In 1926, the state began eliminating several railroad grade crossings and in 1927 the first all-weather secondary roads were constructed, consisting of one concrete lane and one dirt lane in an effort to reduce costs. These three U.S. Highways, along with US 122, were designated through Delaware on November 11, 1926. In 1930 and again in 1932, the DSHD recommended giving numbers to state roads to supplement the existing U.S. Highway System. By 1936, Delaware began assigning numbers to state routes. The original state route marker was a square with "DEL" on top and the route number on bottom in a block font. By 1955, the shield was modified to a square with "DELAWARE" on top and the route number on bottom in FHWA Series font. In 1964, the route marker became a cutout circle with "DEL" on top and the route number on bottom. The current route marker was introduced in 1971. In 1934, the entire length of US 13 between Dover and Wilmington was widened into a divided highway, which at the time was the best superhighway and the longest stretch of divided highway in the world. During the course of the 1930s, several other state roads were constructed while others were widened into divided highways. In 1935, the DSHD took over maintenance of all remaining county roads, tripling the mileage of the state highway system, and took over several city streets in Wilmington in 1936. Progress on improving the state highway system slowed during World War II; the only major project completed during that time was the construction of the high-level St. Georges Bridge to replace a lift bridge destroyed by a ship in 1939. Following the war, several highway improvement projects took place including widening more roads to divided highways. Following the completion of the bridge, traffic along US 13 and US 40 increased, with plans made for a new freeway to handle the increased traffic. In 1957, US 13 was widened into a divided highway between Greenwood and Harrington, providing a divided highway running the north–south length of the state. The first Interstate came in 1959 when the Delaware Memorial Bridge approach was upgraded to Interstate Highway standards and became part of I-295. The portion of I-95 between the Maryland border near Newark and Newport and I-295 between Newport and the approach to the Delaware Memorial Bridge in Farnhurst was to be built as a free Interstate Highway using federal funds, but was built as the tolled Delaware Turnpike instead in order to speed up construction. On November 15, 1963, the turnpike opened to traffic. The Delaware Turnpike allowed motorists to travel from Washington, D.C. to Boston without having to stop at a traffic light. In 1968, I-95 was completed between the Delaware Turnpike and the Pennsylvania border. The I-495 bypass to the east of Wilmington fully opened in 1977. In the 1980s, plans were made for a limited-access Relief Route of US 13 between Dover and the Wilmington area that would alleviate it of traffic heading to the Delaware Beaches in the summer. This Relief Route would become designated as part of DE 1, a route that ran along the Atlantic Ocean in Sussex County and north to Milford. The DE 1 toll road between Dover Air Force Base and Christiana opened in stages between 1991 and 2003. Since the 1950s, a freeway has been planned along the US 301 corridor between I-95 and the Maryland border southwest of Middletown in order to provide a connection from the Delaware Memorial Bridge towards the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the Washington, D.C. area. The most recent proposal called for US 301 to be built as a limited-access toll road from the Maryland border southwest of Middletown northeast to DE 1 in St. Georges. Construction began in 2016 and the highway opened to traffic in 2019. 21st century DelDOT began a program to pave the last of the state-maintained dirt roads within Delaware in the mid 1990s, which at the time totaled . The last dirt road in the state to be paved was Spicer Road (Road 240) near Ellendale in Sussex County in 2002. Since 2000, DelDOT has eliminated several concurrencies in the state in order to reduce motorist confusion. Among the changes made included truncating US 113 from Dover to Milford to eliminate an overlap with DE 1, removing DE 20 from heading into Fenwick Island along DE 54, shortening the length of DE 2 through Newark to avoid several concurrencies, and removing DE 41 from a concurrency with DE 2 in Prices Corner. ==See also==