DOVER — During Monday’s Downtown Dover Partnership board meeting, Dover/Kent County Metropolitan Planning Organization executive director Marilyn Smith and senior principal engineer for Kittleson & Associates Jeff Riegner discussed the results of the organization’s Downtown Dover Pathways charettes, which identified the needs of downtown Dover and the Loockerman corridor, as well as a vision that rectifies concerns.
“It was a year and a half ago when we first started talking to Diane (Laird, Downtown Dover Partnership executive director) about the Downtown Dover Pathways,” said Ms. Smith. “What that entailed was taking from the (Downtown Dover Partnership) master plan, and really starting to look at how to get from point A to point B if you weren’t driving your car.”
The issues found by the charettes were a lack of sidewalk accessibility and condition; bike facilities not easily accessible; vehicles exceeding posted limits; difficulty in crossing certain intersections; a lack of continuous walking or biking routes; Division Street as a barrier for pedestrians; and consideration for emergency routes.
Some improvements recommended to relieve these issues were the addition of crosswalks, like theh one on Loockerman Plaza in front of the Dover Public Library.
“We’ve proposed some additional crosswalks in the short term, filling in a sidewalk gap and then potentially providing some bike lanes in this area,” said Mr. Riegner.
“Not so much because (Loockerman Plaza) is important for bicycling, but because the lanes are 20 feet wide now, which really encourages speeding.”
A short time was also spent on the addition of trails, like one that would connect the Delaware State University main and downtown Dover campuses.
Another idea considered was a pilot micromobility program with rentable vehicles like bikes or scooters.
Particularly, Loockerman Street is something that could receive a significant makeover, helped by the fact that planned utility projects will tear up the street anyway. The proposals involve, mainly, making the roadway narrower to allow for wider sidewalks. Parking would be changed to be only on a single side of the street, alternating blocks.
Downtown Dover’s honey locust trees would remain, but with new grating that would help prevent roots from displacing brick.
Also proposed was a change to the Loockerman Street, State Street, Kings Highway intersection. Instead of having the highway turn off earlier, turning where it juts off in a diagonal into a small park in front of PNC Bank.
The organization’s full report can be found at Doverkentmpo.delaware.gov/downtown-dover-pathways-loockerman-street-design/.
The plan was approved by the partnership and recommended for further study by Dover City Council.
Staff writer Benjamin Rothstein
can be reached at brothstein@iniusa.org.
Follow @brothsteinDSN on X.
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