Lewes Transit Center | |
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DART First State bus terminal | |
General information | |
Location | 17616 Coastal Highway Lewes, DE 19958 |
Coordinates | 38°44′52″N75°10′10″W / 38.7476953°N 75.1695°W |
Bus routes | 6 |
Bus operators | DART First State |
Construction | |
Parking | 248 spaces |
Bicycle facilities | Bicycle racks |
Accessible | Yes |
History | |
Opened | May 6, 2017 |
The Lewes Transit Center is a park and ride lot and bus terminal owned by the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) that is located near the Five Points intersection southwest of the city of Lewes in Sussex County, Delaware. The transit center serves DART First State buses, with service provided by four local bus routes, three of which operate year-round, with expanded service during the summer months, and one of which operates seasonally during the summer months, serving Sussex County and the Delaware Beaches. The bus terminal also serves two inter-county bus routes that provide year-round service to Dover and summer weekend and holiday service from Wilmington. The Lewes Transit Center opened in 2017.
The Lewes Transit Center is located southwest of the city of Lewes in Sussex County, Delaware. The transit center is located along the south side of U.S. Route 9/Delaware Route 1 (Coastal Highway) a short distance east of the Five Points intersection, with access from the southbound lanes. [1] [2] The park and ride is located at the northern edge of the Delaware Beaches region, allowing for transfer to bus services before motorists reach heavier traffic along DE 1 approaching Rehoboth Beach. Buses utilize bus lanes along DE 1 between the Lewes Transit Center and Rehoboth Beach, bypassing traffic congestion. [3] The Lewes Transit Center features a bus loop that buses pull into, to pick up and drop off passengers. Located south of the bus stop is a park and ride lot with 248 parking spaces along with an indoor passenger facility featuring seating, restrooms, a ticket sales office, and monitors displaying real-time bus information. Other amenities at the Lewes Transit Center include bicycle racks, benches that feature solar-powered charging stations, and an electric vehicle charging station. [2] [3]
On June 11, 2012, a public workshop was held on constructing a park and ride lot and a bus maintenance facility in Lewes. [4] A groundbreaking ceremony for the Lewes Transit Center was held on March 9, 2016, with Governor Jack Markell, DelDOT secretary Jennifer Cohan, and DART First State CEO John Sisson in attendance. The first phase of the transit center constructed a park and ride lot and bus stop. [5] Construction of the transit center cost $16.5 million. A total of 80 percent of the funding came from the Federal Transit Administration, which included a $5 million State of Good Repair grant, while the remaining 20 percent came from the Delaware Transportation Trust Fund. [6] On May 6, 2017, DART First State began bus service to the Lewes Transit Center. [3] A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony for the transit center was held on May 12, 2017, with U.S. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, DelDOT secretary Cohan, and DART First State CEO Sisson in attendance. [3] [7] By November 2017, construction was underway on the second phase of the Lewes Transit Center, which will build permanent structures for the facility including a 170 ft (52 m) canopy for passengers with digital signs displaying bus information and a visitor center. [8] The passenger canopy was completed by May 2018 while the visitor center was finished by mid-summer 2018. The third phase of the Lewes Transit Center will build a bus maintenance facility which will allow for more year-round bus service in eastern Sussex County that will start in 2018. [9] On May 21, 2018, a groundbreaking ceremony for the bus maintenance facility was held, with DelDOT secretary Cohan, DART First State CEO Sisson, and State Tourism Director Elizabeth Keller in attendance. [10] On May 20, 2019, an indoor passenger facility opened at the Lewes Transit Center featuring seating, restrooms, a ticket sales office, and monitors displaying real-time bus information. [11]
There are four local bus routes that connect the Lewes Transit Center to the Delaware Beaches and Sussex County. Three of the local routes operate year-round, with expanded service from May to September as part of DART First State's Beach Bus service, while the fourth local route operates seasonally from May to September as part of the Beach Bus service. The Route 201 bus provides year-round service from the Lewes Transit Center to the Tanger Outlets and the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach. The Route 204 bus provides year-round service from the Lewes Transit Center to Lewes and the Cape May–Lewes Ferry terminal and south to Rehoboth Beach. The Route 206 bus operates year-round, providing service from the transit center to Georgetown. The Route 208 bus operates seasonally from the transit center to Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, Bethany Beach, Fenwick Island, and Ocean City, Maryland. [1] [12] There are also two inter-county bus routes that provides service to the Lewes Transit Center from other parts of Delaware. The Route 305 "Beach Connection" provides seasonal service on weekends and holidays from May to September to the transit center from Wilmington, the Christiana Mall, Middletown, and Dover. [12] The Route 307 bus provides year-round service from the Lewes Transit Center to Milford and Dover. [13]
Lewes is an incorporated city on the Delaware Bay in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 3,303. Along with neighboring Rehoboth Beach, Lewes is one of the principal cities of Delaware's rapidly growing Cape Region. The city lies within the Salisbury, Maryland–Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. Lewes proudly claims to be "The First Town in The First State."
Dewey Beach is an incorporated coastal town in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town is 341, an increase of 13.3% over the previous decade. It is part of the rapidly growing Cape Region and lies within the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2011, the NRDC awarded Dewey Beach with a 5-Star rating in water quality. This award was given only to 12 other locations, one being neighboring Rehoboth Beach. Out of the 30 states with coastline, the Delaware Beaches ranked number 1 in water quality in 2011.
Ellendale is a town in Sussex County, Delaware, United States. The population was 487 at the 2020 census, an increase of 27.8% since the 2010 census, and a 48.9% increase since the year 2000. It is part of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. Ellendale is the "Gateway to Delaware's Resort Beaches" because it is the town located on U.S. Route 113, the resort area's westernmost border, and Delaware Route 16, the resort area's northernmost border with the eastern border being the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean and the southern border being the state line with Maryland.
Fenwick Island is a coastal resort town in Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to 2020 census figures, the population of the town is 355, a 2.6% decrease over the last decade. It is part of the Salisbury, Maryland–Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is located on Fenwick Island, a barrier spit.
Georgetown is a town and the county seat of Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town is 6,422, an increase of 38.3% over the previous decade.
Henlopen Acres is a municipality north of Rehoboth Beach in Sussex County, Delaware, United States, and is the third smallest incorporated town in Delaware. According to 2010 census figures, the population of the town is 122, a 12.2% decrease from the 2000 census. It is part of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Rehoboth Beach is a city on the Atlantic Ocean along the Delaware Beaches in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. As of 2020, its population was 1,108. Along with the neighboring coastal town of Lewes, Rehoboth Beach is one of the principal cities of Delaware's rapidly growing Cape Region. Rehoboth Beach lies within the Salisbury metropolitan area.
South Bethany is an incorporated town in Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town is 449, a decrease of 8.7% over the previous decade. It is part of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The Cape May–Lewes Ferry is a ferry system in the United States that traverses a 17-mile (27 km) crossing of the Delaware Bay connecting North Cape May, New Jersey with Lewes, Delaware. The ferry constitutes a portion of U.S. Route 9 and is the final crossing of the Delaware River-Delaware Bay waterway before it meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is only one of two direct crossings between Delaware and New Jersey, the other being the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
Wilmington station, also known as the Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Railroad Station, is a passenger rail station in Wilmington, Delaware. It serves nine Amtrak train routes and is part of the Northeast Corridor. It also serves SEPTA Regional Rail commuter trains on the Wilmington/Newark Line as well as DART First State local buses and Greyhound Lines intercity buses.
Delaware Route 1 (DE 1) is the longest numbered state highway in the U.S. state of Delaware. The route runs 102.63 mi (165.17 km) from the Maryland state line in Fenwick Island, Sussex County, where the road continues south into that state as Maryland Route 528 (MD 528), north to an interchange with Interstate 95 (I-95) in Christiana, New Castle County, where the roadway continues north as part of DE 7. Between Fenwick Island and Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Kent County, DE 1 is a multilane divided highway with at-grade intersections and occasional interchanges. The route heads north through the Delaware Beaches resort area along the Atlantic Ocean before it runs northwest through rural areas, turning north at Milford to continue to Dover. Upon reaching Dover, DE 1 becomes the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway, a freeway that is partially tolled. Between Dover and Tybouts Corner, DE 1 parallels U.S. Route 13 (US 13), crossing over and featuring interchanges with it multiple times. Past Tybouts Corner, the freeway heads north parallel to DE 7 to the northern terminus of DE 1 in Christiana. DE 1 serves as the main north-south state highway in Delaware, connecting the Delaware Beaches with the Dover and Wilmington areas.
The Delaware Transit Corporation, operating as DART First State, is the only public transportation system that operates throughout the U.S. state of Delaware. DART First State provides local and inter-county bus service throughout the state and also funds commuter rail service along SEPTA Regional Rail's Wilmington/Newark Line serving the northern part of the state. The agency also operates statewide paratransit service for people with disabilities. DART First State is a subsidiary of the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT).
The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) is an agency of the U.S. state of Delaware. The Secretary of Transportation is Nicole Majeski. The agency was established in 1917 and has its headquarters in Dover.
The Queen Anne’s Railroad was a railroad that ran between Love Point, Maryland, and Lewes, Delaware, with connections to Baltimore via ferry across the Chesapeake Bay. The Queen Anne's Railroad company was formed in Maryland in 1894, and received legislative authorization from Delaware in February 1895. The railroad's original western terminus was in Queenstown, Maryland, and was moved via a 13-mile (21 km) extension to Love Point in 1902, which shortened the ferry trip to Baltimore.
U.S. Route 9 (US 9) is a United States Numbered Highway in the Northeastern U.S., running from Laurel, Delaware, north to Champlain, New York. In Delaware, the route runs a southwest–northeast path through Sussex County. Even though US 9 is signed north–south for the remainder of its route, the segment in Delaware is signed east–west. The highway runs from its western terminus at US 13 in Laurel northeast to the Cape May–Lewes Ferry terminal in Lewes, where the ferry carries the route across the Delaware Bay to North Cape May, New Jersey. US 9 passes through rural areas and serves the communities of Laurel, Georgetown, and Lewes. US 9 intersects Delaware Route 20 (DE 20) in Hardscrabble, US 113 and DE 18/DE 404 in Georgetown, DE 30 in Gravel Hill, DE 5 in Harbeson, and DE 1 at the Five Points intersection in Nassau. US 9 runs concurrent with DE 404 between Georgetown and Five Points and with DE 1 between Five Points and Carpenters Corner.
Beebe Healthcare is a healthcare system serving Sussex County in southern Delaware in the United States. Its primary facility is Beebe Medical Center, a hospital in Lewes.
The Christiana Mall Park & Ride is a park and ride lot and bus terminal located at the Christiana Mall in the unincorporated community of Christiana between Wilmington and Newark in New Castle County, Delaware. The park and ride serves DART First State buses, with service provided by 9 local bus routes serving New Castle County and two inter-county bus routes that provide service to Dover and seasonal service to Lewes.
The Dover Transit Center is a park and ride lot and bus terminal located in the city of Dover in Kent County, Delaware. The transit center serves DART First State buses, with service provided by eight local bus routes serving Dover and Kent County and four inter-county bus routes that provide service to Wilmington, Newark, Georgetown, and Lewes. The Dover Transit Center opened in 2010 to replace the Water Street Transfer Center as the main bus terminal for DART First State in Dover.
Cecil Transit is a public transit agency providing bus service in Cecil County in the US state of Maryland. The agency, which is owned by Cecil County, operates fixed-route bus service along three routes serving the Cecil County towns of Elkton, North East, and Perryville along with service to Glasgow and Newark in Delaware. Cecil Transit offers connections to Harford Transit bus service and MARC's Penn Line service in Perryville, DART First State bus service in Glasgow and Newark, and SEPTA Regional Rail's Wilmington/Newark Line service in Newark. The fixed-route service allows for deviations of up to 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) through advance reservations. The agency also operates a door-to-door demand responsive transport service called Demand Response for the general public, senior citizens, and disabled people.
Ocean City Transportation is a public transit agency serving the beach town of Ocean City in Worcester County, Maryland in the United States. The agency is a division of the town's Public Works Department. Ocean City Transportation offers bus service branded as Beach Bus, trackless train service along the Ocean City Boardwalk known as the Boardwalk Tram, and paratransit service called ADA Para Transit.