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

Making cycling and walking safe, convenient and fun in Delaware

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

September 14, 2012 Engineering 1

US 13 Northbound into Dover

 
 

T. Coleman Dupont’s Original Concept of the Dupont Parkway (now US 13)

 

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).

It may seem impossible that we could ever realize Mr. Dupont’s original vision given all the intervening decades and the vast amounts of money that have been spent to give us our current US 13.  But…could we at least have the trees?

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

One Response

  1. Anon says:

    It’s because engineers were given the task of planning our communities ‘by the numbers’.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *