A Core Planning team made up of state and county officials will study the Route 9 corridor this spring and summer with public workshops planned for this summer following the team's research phase.
The plan comes as part of Executive Order 16 signed by Gov. Meyer, which was part of the Governor's push for "smart growth" in the state.
Part of that executive order calls for an establishment of "Corridor Planning Areas" to address congestion, safety, land use, and environmental concerns.
The Core Planning team will draft four scenarios and goals for Route 9, progressing from short to long term. The county will then select from them based on their vision for that corridor.
The County's presentation noted that the longest of the eventual four options could take the next 40 years to complete.
David Edgell, Director of the Office of State Planning Coordination.
“We identified these two corridors in Sussex County, as corridors where growth is occurring. We at the state are not as aligned as we’d like to be with what your land use planning is, and we’d like to make sure we are working together as we’re planning for infrastructure and services.” he said.
Route 9 was selected following discussions with council, where it was made clear that roadway is in need of attention first
“I certainly am excited to see that we’re going to be studying a corridor that could be considered very over capacity. The one thing I struggle with is, the [Route] 404 is dualized to the Maryland state line and this is stuff we were talking about when I was in high school. And, I’m not young. If it was good in the 90s to dualize it, it’s good today.” said Councilman Steve McCarron
State officials say Route 9 is also a priority for them.
Work on the study is set to begin immediately, with public workshops scheduled over the spring and summer months.
The planning team will submit a final proposal for adoption in August or September, with review of the plan being scheduled for September if necessary.
