MAGNOLIA — Del. 1 commuters may have noticed the installation of median barriers up and down the highway over the past several weeks.
According to C.R. McLeod, the Delaware Department of Transportation’s director of community relations, the project currently covers the stretch from Trap Shooters Road in Magnolia to Del. 30 in Milford.
He said the construction began in spring 2024 and is scheduled to end in the spring of next year.
The goal, he added, is to help prevent crossover crashes.
Installation includes a paved strip in the median with “anchors” at the end of each side. These anchors hold the ends of cables that extend the length of each median, as well as post sockets in between the anchors, around 9.5 feet from each other. Steel posts are installed before the cables are run, and tension is added.
Those posts have a unique feature, too.
“The posts aren’t drilled in as they are designed to break away when struck,” wrote Mr. McLeod in a statement, adding that deflection is the primary purpose of the cable barriers, guiding vehicles back to the right side of the road.
According to DelDOT’s July 2018 strategic highway safety plan, there are three types of barriers: concrete, steel guardrails and these high-tension cables.
The plan details the pros and cons of each. For example, concrete barriers require less maintenance and can be installed in narrow medians; however, they are not as forgiving on impact and are the most expensive.
Meanwhile, the cable barriers are the least expensive, are much more forgiving upon impact and are easier to maintain. But because of the potential for deflection on impact, they should be used in wider medians, like those of Del. 1.
Steel guardrails lie in the middle: They are more expensive than cables but cheaper than concrete, and more forgiving than concrete but less forgiving than cables. Unlike cables, they can be used in narrow medians and to protect fixed objects.
That report came the same month a family of six from New Jersey collided with a vehicle that had crossed the median into their lane in the Townsend area, killing five of the occupants who were not wearing seat belts and seriously injuring a sixth, Delaware State Police said. Three of those killed were children.
Mr. McLeod said the expansion of barriers along Del. 1 is not in response to any specific incident.
The Department of Transportation determined various places statewide that needed such equipment and predicts 100% coverage of all median barrier gaps by 2027, according to a 2023 State of Good Repair summary, as long as projects are completed on schedule and funded.
This particular project will go farther south, as well, as part of Del. 1/Del. 16, Del. 1/Cave Neck Road and Del. 1/Minos Conaway Road grade-separated interchange initiatives.
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