US 301 on pace to collect tolls in December, fund first loan payment

Nearly two years after it began, construction on the $636 million U.S. 301 tollway is on pace to be completed in December – on time for the state to make its first payment on a $211 million federal loan, the Delaware Department of Transportation said this week.

“Opening the new U.S. 301 by the end of 2018 is critical as toll revenues will pay the loans that have helped finance this project,” DelDOT Secretary Jennifer Cohan said in a statement. 

DelDOT in late 2015 finalized for the project a Federal Highway Administration loan, designed to supplement investment from private credit markets.

The expected opening of the 14-mile expressway will cap decades of state efforts to draw up plans for and then build a new artery through once-rural southern New Castle County.

Proponents say the highway will reduce traffic on the streets in and around Middletown, grow the economy in the area and provide an alternate route for drivers traveling between Wilmington and Washington.

Gov. John Carney on Monday said the artery would spark business growth because trucks would move more efficiently through the state. 

“With efforts underway such as the Port of Wilmington expansion, it is critical that freight traffic can move easily through the region," he said.

Yet the highway also incited opposition among many longtime residents fearful of changes it would bring to an area that already has experienced monumental growth, as subdivisions and warehouses replace soybean farms.

BACKGROUND: DelDOT hoping for U.S. 301 green light in 2015 

The first of seven U.S. 301 project segments – a 1.8-mile stretch northeast of Middletown – is slated to be finished in May, which would be 41 days ahead of schedule, the state said.

Remaining tasks for crews from R.E. Pierson Construction Co. involves diamond-grinding the road surface, adding lanes stripes, installing signs and adding topsoil surrounding the roadway, DelDOT spokesman C.R. McLeod said.

"There is no financial incentive for the contractor for finishing early," he said. 

R.E. Pierson Construction Co. won the contract in January after it submitted a $21 million bid. 

McLeod said there are no specific end dates for the remaining six project segments, but "all of the contractors have indicated that they will complete their work in time for us to open the roadway to traffic in December 2018."

Contact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.