A benchmark for livable progress: transportation finds common ground with environmental; economic, historic, and community concerns in northern Delaware

Public Roads, May-June, 2003 by Robert B. King

With every passing day, another link with the past seems lost to the ever-moving process called "progress." Progress is inevitable, but it sometimes comes at a price, which might be damaging to historic and ecological landmarks that many communities hold dear.

In Delaware, this trend was challenged and changed, as State agencies and the people they serve came together to balance the economic need for progress with the human need for more livable communities. In a true public-private partnership, all concerned parties collectively are making decisions that will have far-reaching impacts on jobs, quality of life, the environment, and historic preservation. A good example is the Blue Ball Properties (BBP) project in Wilmington, DE.

The goal of the BBP project is to interlock the public aspects--transportation and transit improvements, park development, and preservation of the historic Blue Ball Dairy Barn and other historic structures--with the private aspect, which involves the expansion of a corporate headquarters located on U.S. 202. The business complex is adjacent to the dairy barn property, where the park is located.

Wilmington is approximately half. way between Philadelphia, PA, and Baltimore, MD, in the heart of the Nation's busy mid-Atlantic region. The State recognized that progress was required in this region but was determined that it would not be at the cost of uncontrolled growth, lost habitats, unbearable traffic congestion, or forgotten history

Catalyst: Keeping a Major Employer

In 1998, a merger of two companies formed the world's third largest pharmaceuticals firm, AstraZeneca, which announced its intention to choose one of its two former sites--either the Astra site in Pennsylvania or the Zeneca site in Delaware--to become its new center of operations. State leaders began taking steps to assure that Delaware would be selected, and on April 29, 1999, the company accepted the Delaware proposal.

According to a press release from the Delaware Economic Development Office, the company and the State of Delaware "...agreed to join with local officials and residents to preserve approximately 244 acres [99 hectaresil of land in North Wilmington." At the same time, various transportation improvements will accommodate the company's expansion by separating regional and local traffic, and motorized and nonmotorized traffic.

Going Beyond Traditional Roadway Infrastructure

Leaders from the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT)m the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), and the Delaware Economic Development Office (DEDO) became equal partners with the community in developing a master plan for the BBP project, named in remembrance of the Blue Ball Tavern, a historic stagecoach inn that stood on the site.

More than 125 people, including representatives from the lead agencies, plus local environmental groups, historic preservationists, political and business leaders, and area residents hammered out a master improvement plan that goes beyond traditional roadway infrastructure to encompass economic, environmental, historic preservation, recreational, and aesthetic components.

Says DEDO's Director of Policy and Planning Jim Lisa, "We want jobs, but not at the expense of our quality of life."

To understand these sentiments, it is helpful to know a little about this part of northern Delaware. The area around the BBP is filled with reminders of its historic past--from black powder mills along the Brandywine Creek that were the beginnings of the DuPont Company, to the museums, gardens, hospitals, and mansions left as a legacy by the duPont family.

Retail shops border well-tended older suburban communities and tree-lined work sites for Delaware's chemical and banking industries. The company's new headquarters Sits at the corner of U.S. 202 and State Route 141, with the expanded campus bridging S.R. 141. This location is considered "sacred ground" to many Delawareans, as it is just across from the A. I. DuPont Hospital for Children and the Nemours Mansion and Gardens.

Support from the Top

With a new State administration elected in 2000, Governor Ruth Ann Minner, along with her newly appointed Secretary of Transportation Nathan Hayward III, inherited the responsibility of overseeing the implementation of the master plan for the BBP. Governor Minner's cornerstone "Livable Delaware" initiative already was championing an improved quality of life and more livable communities.

"Federal and State requirements for air and water quality, historic and ecological sensitivity, social and economic balance now have more influence on the solution to a transportation problem than ever before," Secretary Hayward says. "Yet, until recently, departments of transportation have continued to treat these as 'other' considerations, rather than as a fundamental piece of the problem that needs to be addressed." The BBP master plan brings these elements together.

Involving diverse groups in the decisionmaking was no easy task, but the result is a livable plan that the community has agreed on, not one that is imposed from above. Hayward says that the success of the BBP project means that it will be the model for how Delaware crafts major transportation improvement projects.