SLAUGHTER BEACH, Del. — A proposed shared use path linking the city of Milford and the town of Slaughter Beach along Cedar Beach Road has been put on hold after a feasibility study found the project was not workable in its current form.
The 5.75 mile path was proposed between South Rehoboth Boulevard and Dockside Drive, a route commonly used by cyclists traveling to Slaughter Beach. Town officials recently released the project’s final report following the study.
Slaughter Beach Mayor Harry Ward said the project evolved into something far larger than originally intended.
“The study got into the hands of a consultant, and they made it into this huge project that was going to take it away from the side of the road,” Ward said. “It was going to be a bike path that took much more of people’s property.”
Ward said safety concerns, especially for cyclists, along the curving roadway played a big role in the original idea for the path.
“It was just too dangerous,” Ward said. “Any place that there’s not a straight shot of sight, it was a dangerous area.”
Some residents who live along Cedar Beach Road said the path would be a poor use of money on a road that frequently floods during coastal storms and could encroach on their private property.
Ward said the town may revisit the idea in a few years, potentially returning to a smaller plan focused on adding a five-foot shoulder along the road.
“I think what we’ve done is kind of soured the milk,” Ward said. “Now to go back and say it’s something smaller, something more practical, I think it’s going to take a number of years before people get that bad taste out of their mouth, and then they can come back and say, what we really wanted was a five-foot shoulder."
Ward emphasized that picking up the project in the future would require grant money and partnership with DelDOT.