The Concord Pike Monitoring Committee (CPMC) was formed in 2021 to guide and fulfill the recommendations of the Concord Pike Master Plan, which established a shared vision for the transportation and land use of the corridor. Led by WILMAPCO, DelDOT, the Delaware Transit Corporation (DTC), and the New Castle County Department of Land Use (NCC DLU), this work is being accomplished through a collaborative dialogue between the Committee members, who represent a diverse group of stakeholders, including implementing agencies, local civic and community leaders, elected officials, state police, business interests, and advocacy groups.

Since our last CPMC Summer newsletter, the CPMC has begun work for the 2023-2024 cycle. The CPMC will have three (3) meetings this cycle, as well as an annual public workshop in the spring. The first meeting of the 2023-2024 cycle was held on November 8, 2023.

While the CPMC meetings are designed for the benefit and active involvement of the Committee members, the public is welcome to attend and provide comments at the end of each meeting.

The first CPMC meeting of the 2023-2024 cycle was held in-person at the New Castle County Government Center on November 8, 2023, from 4-6 p.m. The meeting covered the following topics:

The main focuses of the meeting were: 1) to recap the previous work of the CPMC, including an exercise to prioritize the project recommendations in the Master Plan that was conducted during CPMC meetings in 2023, 2) to look ahead at the upcoming year and the anticipated work of the CPMC, and 3) the first of a series of Spotlight Topics: Concord Pike Corridor Signal Retiming.

Materials from the November 8 meeting, including the PowerPoint presentation and a recording of the meeting can be found on the Concord Pike Master Plan website.

To help achieve the primary goal of the CPMC - to advance the Concord Pike Master Plan projects - the project team introduced Spotlight Topics to the committee during the November 8th meeting. New Spotlight Topics will be included in future CPMC meetings and will highlight individual recommended projects to take a deeper dive into recommendations that were identified as priorities by the CPMC. Spotlight Topics will also help provide committee members with information that they can share with their communities.

1st Spotlight Topic: Concord Pike Corridor Signal Retiming

To kick-off the Spotlight Topics for the 2023-2024 cycle, Dan Ormand and Jim Clacher from RK&K gave a presentation on DelDOT’s signal retiming effort along the Concord Pike Corridor. The primary objectives of the signal retiming were to 1) improve vehicle flow along Concord Pike from the Augustine Cutoff to the Pennsylvania state line, 2) reduce peak period delay, and 3) to serve all modes of travel as equitably as possible. For more information, view the recording of the Signal Retiming presentation.

Future Spotlight Topics

Potential future Spotlight Topics on projects recommended in the Concord Pike Master Plan may include:

NCC DLU Ordinance 23-053 

The NCC DLU seeks to encourage and incentivize well designed sustainable redevelopment of corridor areas, including the Concord Pike corridor, in a manner that is sensitive to adjacent communities. The Concord Pike corridor is included in NCC DLU’s Redeveloping Vital Corridors initiative for implementing land use recommendations from the Concord Pike Master Plan and the NCC Comprehensive Plan, NCC 2050. Land use for the Concord Pike corridor is identified as Type 1 – Commercial Corridor Development. Type 1 corridors generally have a tight integration of jobs and services with adjacent residential neighborhoods.

To gain input from the public regarding potential redevelopment of commercial properties, the NCC DLU held three Redevelopment Listening Sessions in the Fall of 2023. The public was encouraged to attend and share feedback regarding the challenges and opportunities associated with redevelopment. To view the listening session presentation and meeting recordings, click here and navigate to the “Economic Development” dropdown menu.

Moving forward, the NCC DLU will use the feedback received at the three public listening sessions held in Fall 2023 to craft an ordinance that both enhances existing redevelopment provisions and adds important incentives for redevelopment opportunities in the Corridor Area.

DART Reimagined Study Update

DART is in the process of wrapping up a year-long statewide transit study, DART Reimagined: Reshaping DART Transit Services to Meet the Needs of Today and Beyond, in an effort to:

Next Steps Include: 

Please continue to submit comments using the project email, info@dartreimagined.com. For more information, visit dartreimagined.com.

Other Useful Links

Have you been to Delaware’s First State National Historic Park? Located just off Concord Pike along the Brandywine River, the First State National Historic Park has much to offer for pedestrians, bicycles, and history buffs. The national park was established in 2013 and of the property’s 1,100 acres, 880 are in Delaware with the rest in Pennsylvania. It serves as a wildlife preserve and recreation destination for the more than five million people who live within 25 miles of the park. Elements of the park support and complement the pedestrian and bicycle recommendations found in the Concord Pike Master Plan.

Source: The Conservation Fund