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Local emergency responders expect delays to Lewes
By Jonathan Starkey
Staff Reporter
Gary Walls, a paid emergency medical technician (EMT) with the Roxana Volunteer Fire Company, isn’t naïve. He predicts that the traffic caused by construction plans in Lewes will add 30 to 45 minutes to the company’s round trips to Beebe Medical Center on Route 9, trips it makes at least 15 times a month.
How is the company going to deal with such a delay? “One day at a time,” Walls said. “It’s going to tear us up.”
Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) began a two-year construction project Sept. 11 to add a shared-use lane and a sidewalk to southbound Route 1 between a point just north of Route 9 and 24. The end result will look much like the road does now at points past Route 24, with three dedicated travel lanes and a shared-use lane for buses, bicycles and right turns.
During the first stage of construction, from Sept. 11 to March 2007, concrete barriers and missing roadway will render one lane of southbound traffic unusable. The shoulder/right turn lane between Brian Drive and Melson Road at Midway will also be closed.
During the second phase — and likely more troubling to everyone who uses Route 1 in the Delaware coastal area — from July 2007 to the spring of 2008, work in the median will close one lane both northbound and southbound to passenger cars, trucks and emergency vehicles. Concrete barriers will not allow anyone to pass through that area of the construction zone, where the roadway will be mostly removed.
The idea of closing one lane of traffic on both sides of the highway during the summer is enough to make most cringe, as they picture bumper-to-bumper delays. And Walls and his fellow paramedic responders are no different.
“I can foresee some situations when it’s going to delay response,” said Joe Hopple, a spokesman for Sussex County’s office of Emergency Medical Services. “It’s going to make our jobs that much harder.”
DelDOT Spokesman Mike Williams said that the agency has invited emergency personnel to be a part of the construction working group, which will meet monthly to discuss problems with the construction plan.
The agency also plans to use the media and signs to provide progress updates, but emergency personnel will not be updated any differently than anyone else, Williams added. Mostly, he said, getting emergency personnel through sometimes-heavy traffic is going to require the help of other drivers on the road.
“We will make sure that they get through,” Williams said. Emergency personnel will not have special access to any construction areas, though. “They manage to get through there in the summer time when we’re not doing construction. An ambulance with their lights on, or a fire truck, gets through.”
Most emergency responders will have to rely on alternate routes and accept possible delays in response and turnaround.
“It’s going to make us find a different route, which will be longer; or we’re going to have to sit and fight traffic, which will take more time,” said James Cina, the EMS supervisor for the Millville Volunteer Fire Company. Cina said that out of about seven EMS calls a day, three or four go to Beebe in Lewes. Three ambulances are on call in Millville at all times. Roxana’s two ambulances are always available.
“It’s just going to make our trip there longer, which will delay our trip to get back into our area,” Cina added, saying that using a helicopter more often is not an option because it is reserved for life-threatening injuries. “It’s just one of those deals.”
Russell Hooper, a volunteer ambulance captain with the Frankford Volunteer Fire Company, agreed with Cina, saying that he can not do anything about the traffic or delays the construction might cause.
“I’ve not been talking much about it,” Hooper said. He added that the paramedics onboard the ambulances are well-trained and can take care of patients until they get to the hospital. “We just take our time and do the best we can.”
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