Transforming a Thoroughfare

State of Delaware combines roadwork with recreation

By Sheila Bacon

The $130 million Blue Ball Properties project will revamp U.S. Highway 202 and the surrounding area just north of Wilmington.

A six-lane, 1-mi.-long bypass road was constructed just west of U.S. 202 to accommodate traffic routed off the existing highway. Traffic was shifted in summer 2004 to the bypass so crews could build two underpasses beneath U.S. 202, a job currently underway.

The lion's share of the $130 million Blue Ball Properties project involves improvements to U.S. Highway 202 and surrounding roadways north of Wilmington, Del.

Nearly $110 million is dedicated to roadwork during the five-year, multiphased project, which will bring new underpasses, streamlined on- and off-ramps, improved lighting and wider roadways. Also included will be 150 acres of surrounding park space, an expanded golf course, new playfields and renovation of the property's historic Blue Ball Dairy Farm barn.

The project is scheduled for completion in 2007. It was launched by Delaware in 1999 after the state's successful bid to bring the world's third-largest pharmaceutical company's U.S. headquarters to Delaware's Brandywine Hundred area.

Among the area's improvements is the renovation of the Blue Ball Dairy Barn, just southwest of the intersection of U.S. 202 and Rockland Road. The barn was built in 1914 by Alfred I. duPont as part of a farming operation that provided food for area residents. The State of Delaware finalized purchase of the barn in 2002 and it is being transformed into a community center and administrative space for the surrounding park's staff..

The merger of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies Astra and Zeneca resulted in a doubling of Zeneca's existing 88-acre campus at U.S. 202 and State Route 141. The venture seeks to accommodate AstraZeneca's expanded operations while boosting economic development and improving the overall area for the surrounding community.

Work started in 2002 and thus far has included construction of a two-acre wetland mitigation site, a regional stormwater management system to address drainage issues and a six-lane, 1-mi.-long bypass road just west of U.S. 202 to accommodate traffic routed off the existing highway. Traffic was shifted in summer 2004 to the bypass so crews could build two underpasses beneath U.S. 202, a job currently under way.

Considerable Communication

Seven separate utilities were relocated and consolidated in a common utility tunnel before any roadwork began, creating the need for considerable communication between all entities, said project engineer Bruce Kay of Philadelphia engineering consulting firm DMJM+HARRIS.

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Water, electricity, gas, cable, phone lines and other utilities were located above and below ground and on both sides of U.S. 202 before the reroute. The new tunnel carries the consolidated utilities underground and parallel to the new bypass road.

The majority of the initial phase of work was completed by general contractor Mumford and Miller of Dover, Del.

Shifting traffic from the busy highway to the bypass road required months of coordination and the better part of a weekend to execute, Kay said. The highway accommodates approximately 80,000 cars per day.

General contractor R.E. Pierson of Pilesgrove, N.J., was joined by paving, lane painting, signalization and other subcontractors during the complex shift, and crews finished the job well before the Monday rush hour.

R.E. Pierson's subcontractor, Brubacher Excavating of Bowmansville, Pa., recently completed blasting 10,000 cu. yds. of blue-gray granite beneath U.S. 202 to make way for the two underpasses at East Park Drive and Foulk Road/ SR 141 spur. Seismographs were placed at the Blue Ball Dairy barn and nearby city water reservoir to measure possible effects of the blasts, though no damage was detected.

Shifting traffic from U.S. 202 to the bypass road required months of coordination and the better part of a weekend to execute. General contractor R.E. Pierson was joined by paving, lane painting, signalization and other subcontractors during the complex shift, and crews finished the job well before the Monday rush hour.

The underpass structures incorporate a considerable amount of architectural stone retrieved from the blasting efforts, said Ralph Farbaugh, R.E. Pierson's project manager. One outcome of numerous community meetings indicated the desire to match the design of the surrounding community's buildings, such as those on the campus of Wilmington's Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children.

Upcoming phases of the Blue Ball Properties project include reconfiguration of the new bypass road for use within the new park, construction of a SR 141 spur near the AstraZeneca campus, various improvements along U.S. 202 and reconstruction of the Interstate 95/U.S. 202 interchange.

DelDOT's involvement in improvements that reach beyond road widening and on-ramp construction is a new-but-deliberate move for the transportation department that encourages design and construction of projects that enhance communities, said Mark Tudor, Blue Ball Properties project manager.

"We want to be able to think of all the issues that make up major improvement projects and ask ourselves, 'What else can we do so that the surrounding area is a better place when we leave?'" Tudor said.

Blue Ball Properties Roadwork Improves U.S. 202 and Surrounding Roadways

Keeping it Green