LEWES, Del.- Utility work for a big roadwork project is bringing a scheduled power outage.
The entire city of Lewes and 250 homes will be without power from midnight to 4 am on October 5.
The work on the Old Orchard Road realignment is the cause for the outage. Officials from DelDOT and Delmarva Power told CoastTV that the intersection of Wescoats Road and Savannah Road houses a main transition line- and the only time it can be worked on is when it is turned off.
"When planning this project, we wanted to make sure that we could minimize the impact to as many people as possible in the community," said Delmarva Power spokesperson Zach Chizar. "We know it's an inconvenience, but we certainly appreciate everyone's patience."
Chizar told CoastTV that the neighborhoods impacted outside city limits include the Covey Creek, the East Village community and homes immediately outside city limits on Savannah Road.
Delmarva Power, Lewes BPW and DelDOT have been working hand in hand to get the job done. Delmarva Power and the city of Lewes have worked to notify neighbors of the outage.
At the Beebe campus in downtown Lewes, officials say they have been preparing for this outage. Beebe Health Emergency Management Coordinator R.L. Hughes said the hospital is always prepared with plans to keep its patients safe in cases of power outages or any other emergencies.
"We'll have people and additional staff working through the evening, into the wee hours of the morning to assure all patients are safe," he said.
As for the roadwork's final product, it will include a roundabout at Wescoats and Marsh roads, shared use paths for cyclists and more. DelDOT's C.R. McLeod says it will make this oddly shaped intersection safer.
"It's awkward for traffic to move through that area and that just slows traffic down," he said. "This new project is going to help address those long standing issues."
There was originally scheduled to be three outages to realign the utilities at the intersection, but the hiring of a contractor that could work on some of the transmission line without turning it off made only one outage necessary.
McLeod says that the utility work should be done in 2024. He added the actual roadwork itself at the intersection is scheduled to begin in 2025, and be complete in 2026.