Jerry Smith

The News Journal

Frederica residents who attended a town hall meeting hosted by DE Turf Sports Complex officials just about all had the same concern on their minds: traffic.

With the $24 million sports complex that sits adjacent to Del. 1 on the northbound side “99 percent complete” and nearly ready to host its first tournament on Easter weekend, neighbors were worried about how traffic would be routed before an overpass specifically being built for the complex is finished in spring 2018.

DE Turf officials say it looks like there will be events for 14 or 15 weekends through November.

Delaware Department of Transportation officials spelled out a plan to control traffic on Wednesday and appeared to appease those in attendance as few concerns were voiced after the presentation.

Before the Frederica Overpass is completed, DelDOT’s Mike Rivera said most crossovers on Del. 1 to the south of the sports complex would be closed from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. on tournament days. The three crossovers to the north would be closed all day, he said.

Rivera said Tub Mill Pond Road and Milford Neck Road would remain open so businesses in the area won’t suffer and area residents can get home more easily.

“These are the peak times for traffic each day, so for the safety of everyone involved, we will close crossovers from north Frederica to the Thompsonville interchange,” Rivera said. “In the interest of safety, this is the only way we feel we can do it. The goal is to minimize the impact to residents.”

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One resident asked specifically about tournaments on major holiday weekends such as Memorial Day, July Fourth and Labor Day, raising concerns that beach traffic on those weekends is already at peak before potentially adding tournament traffic.

Both Rivera and Strickland told residents that there would be no tournaments on those weekends, at least until the Frederica Overpass is completed.

Rivera said DelDOT intends to place message boards on both sides of Del. 1 alerting drivers about the possibility of congestion because of the tournaments and also that crossovers will be closed.

Rivera said Delaware State Police will be contracted to handle interchanges and roads nearest the complex, and DelDOT officials would be on hand during all tournaments to help ensure safety precautions are followed.

“We’ll continuously evaluate timeframes and traffic flow to see if anything needs to be changed,” he said.

One resident whose house and field are next to the complex said he has been against the project from the beginning. He said most of the problems he’s faced during construction have been minor, but he thinks traffic is and always will be a problem.

“Right now the entrance road is a problem because motorists think it is an exit,” Jim MacFarland said. “I’m sure it will be resolved once it is completed, but then it will be replaced with other problems. This is the right project for the wrong place.”

The most recent study projects an estimated $25 million a year direct economic impact on the area from the complex, said Bill Strickland, chairman of the Kent County Regional Sports Complex Corp. He noted that the number of in-state and out-of-state associations interested in being a part of the regional tournaments at the complex could reach as high as 25.

The complex has been a long time coming, according to Strickland. Kent business and government officials spent nearly six years persuading the state – including the Delaware Department of Transportation – that the vacant land near Frederica was worth developing as a sports tourism destination.

Strickland said part of the group’s difficulty in getting the project off the ground was DelDOT’s reluctance to prioritize a new overpass. DelDOT broke ground last March on the $18 million project.

The complex will feature 12 multipurpose synthetic turf fields for soccer, lacrosse and other field sports. One of the 12 will be a championship stadium, with seating for about 750. All fields will feature lights and scoreboards, but only the championship field will have seats. An additional field set up for field hockey only will be added later, officials said.

Strickland said the Kent County location is within a four-hour drive of more than 20 million people and that the complex is designed to draw travel teams and tournaments from all across the central Mid-Atlantic.

Reach Jerry Smith at jsmith17@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JerrySmithTNJ.