100 Years Ago: How Dupont Highway (Rt 13) Was Supposed to Have Been Designed

 
There are no places in Delaware more hostile to bicycling than certain segments of the Dupont highway (e.g. Hare’s Corner in New Castle).  But 100 years ago, when T. Coleman Dupont proposed building a new road to connect urban northern Delaware with rural southern Delaware, he had a very different vision (see his Dupont Parkway concept above from 1910).

A hundred years later, in 2010, DelDOT formally adopted a Delaware “Complete Streets” policy.  But if Coleman Dupont couldn’t get his Parkway built a hundred years ago, why should we expect to get better roads now than Coleman Dupont was able to get?  Now we have a piece of paper?

RELATED:

• Wider. Straighter. Smoother. Faster.

• Can a Stroad Ever Be a “Complete Street”?

• We Have Too Many Stroads

• The Important Difference Between a Road and A Street

• Do Conversations Like This Still Happen in 2011?

• First, Do No Harm to Pedestrians and Bicyclists

• “Complete Streets” = Routine Accommodation