MILTON, Del. - Parents with kids in the Cape Henlopen School District are calling for a change after they say DelDOT's closure of Round Pole Bridge Road has placed children on their way to school in harms way.
On Sunday, March 30, 14 people sent an open letter to DelDOT Director of Planning Pamela Steinbach, Sussex County Planning and Zoning Director Jamie Whitehouse and Sussex County Administrator Todd Lawson. Included on the email is Governor Matt Meyer, Representative Stell Parker Selby and Cape Henlopen School District Superintendent Robert Fulton.
The letter starts off by telling DelDOT they've made a serious mistake when developing the construction management plan for the Twin Masts entrance project construction on Round Pole Bridge Road in Milton.
"Round Pole Bridge Road is tar and chip, 3-mile, 17ft wide, not even a 2-lane road and is now a dead-end street, however, you would not know that because you and your engineers have probably have never visited it. School Buses cannot turn around since the road is so narrow. There are 5 45-degree turns in the road. School children from age 6 to high school are expected to walk 3 miles to the nearest bus stop. If ANYTHING, such as an accident, or injury or worse happens to any of our Children, Del Dot is LIABLE. Kids are now traipsing 3 miles to catch their bus to school. Farm trucks driving back and forth this farming season to the numerous farms on Round Pole which are trying to turn the 45-degree angles could easily hit a child walking to and from school. Del Dot is responsible for this which should have NEVER been approved for our road to be closed," says the open letter.
Not only are they concerned about the children trying to get to school, but they are worried about the response times for local EMS, fire and police.
"Let's talk about EMS and Fire. Lewes and Milton are interchangeable. If Milton is not available, Lewes will respond. An Additional 15 Minutes can be life or death. An additional 15 minutes could be saving a house from a fire, or losing the house to fire. State Police? 11 minutes later because the Road is closed and the detour is 7 miles."
13 of the people included on the letter live on Round Pole Bridge Road and one lives on Cave Neck Road.
The parents are demanding that DelDOT changes the road closure to be made by Friday, April 4.
"Ms. Steinebach, we want one thing from you. Not a formal statement saying 'we do this all the time, this is our protocol, we apologize for any inconvenience'. We want the road open on one side, with gravel, and flaggers, so that buses, EMS, Fire, Police can have access to our homes, to us, the residents, if needed and school buses can pick the children up and drop the children back to their homes safely."
The road was scheduled to be closed from Monday, March 24 to Wednesday, April 30.
At the end of Anthony Esposito's driveway is where his nine year old daughter used to get picked up for school.
The closure of Round Pole Bridge Road has stopped buses from coming to the home since they have no way to turn around. This came as a surprise to Esposito.
"We did not find out about this road closure until Friday, when we saw the signs on our way to work. And we didn't find out until we saw it on the news that the road is actually going to be closed for five weeks straight," Espositio shared.
According to DelDOT the construction is for a residential subdivision entrance and road improvements.
One of those people, Wayne Leatham says the focus is on the money from the developers.
"It became a real hassle. It goes back to our governmental agencies of not taking care of the people, and taking care of money," said Leatham.
The main concern in the letter was safety for the children and accessibility for EMS, fire and police.
Esposito, a firefighter with the Lewes Fire Department received a notification of a residential fire during our interview. He says the road closure has changed how he's able to serve.
"For the next five weeks while I'm at home, I can no longer respond to calls because to go around the long side of Cave Neck Road it's way too long to actually make a viable difference, to respond to calls. "
He says what used to be a five to seven minute trip to the fire department is now about 15 to 20 minutes.
Esposito also shared the closest fire hydrant is on Hudson Road which is now inaccessible for five weeks.
CoastTV reached out to DelDOT for an interview. While no one was available for an interview.
DelDOT Director of Community Relations C.R. McLeod told CoastTV, "we will not be making any changes as it is a complete reconstruction of the road so there is no road to reopen until the project is completed."
Esposito says on Wednesday, March 26, he emailed Sussex County Clerk of the Council Tracy Torbert, Sussex County Planning and Zoning Director Jamie Whitehouse and Representative Stell Parker Selby.
He also says he sent an online message to Robbie Murray, Director of Public Safety at the Sussex County Emergency Operations Center. He says he never received a response from anyone he contacted.