DelDOT has another major highway construction project on its agenda. And this one is in Sussex County.
Starting in 2026, Delaware’s Department of Transportation will kick off a $23 million construction project to widen Kings Highway in Lewes.
DelDOT community relations director C.R. McLeod says the widening is needed to prepare to handle future growth.
“As we all know there’s a lot of development happening, especially on the south side of Lewes. And we had our first public workshop to share a concept for major infrastructure improvements along a roughly mile-long stretch of Kings Highway from Route 1 to Freeman Highway," McLeod said.
McLeod notes that in addition to widening the highway from two to four lanes, the project will also install a shared-use path along both sides of the road and incorporate new bus stop locations.
It will also add five roundabouts - four at existing intersections and one at a newly created intersection - eliminating left turns except on the roundabouts.
“We are proposing to use roundabouts at intersections as opposed to the traditional traffic signals," McLeod said. "And the reason that we’re doing this is that they’re proven to be safer than those traditional four-way intersections. And we are using them more and more frequently across the State because they are much safer.”
The project is expected to take two years to complete and McLeod says it should improve safety even as traffic volume increases.
McLeod calls Kings Highway one of the busiest roads in the Cape region - providing access to the City of Lewes, the Cape May-Lewes Ferry and Cape Henlopen State Park.
