Bike bridge will connect New Castle riders with downtown Wilmington

Bicyclists will be able to ride from New Castle's Battery Park to the Wilmington Riverfront and into downtown when a new trail and bike bridge are completed in June, department of transportation officials said.

The state hopes the eight-mile-long pathway, which has been in the works for a decade, will provide an alternate route for commuters that will reduce vehicle congestion and pollution.

"We joke that during times when traffic is so bad on 95, you might be able to bike from Old New Castle to Wilmington much faster than you can make it in a car," said Jeff Niezgoda, DelDOT's assistant director for local system improvement programs.

The $23 million project includes an arched, 345-foot long wooden bridge east of I-95, a 2,300-foot boardwalk across marshland, and a smaller bridge on Little Mill Creek that leads to the DuPont Environmental Education Center and the Riverfront.

Further south, the trail will connect with an existing 1.4-mile path that stretches to Old New Castle.

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On Tuesday, workers with JJID Inc. installed wooden panels on the 12-foot wide bridge. Cyclists who cross the bridge from Wilmington toward New Castle will ride through wooded areas and will pass the yard of the Baylor Women's Correctional Institution.

The new transportation pathway will be named the Jack Markell Trail after the former governor and biking enthusiast, Niezgoda said.

New Castle County special services will maintain the pathway, Niezgoda said, and the Riverfront Development Corporation will fund security cameras and private foot patrols to secure the area.

Lights will be installed on the bike bridge but not on the rest of the trail.

Eighty percent of the bridge and trail costs were covered by the U.S. Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program, Niezgoda said. It provides funding for projects that reduce transportation-related emissions in areas with air quality "nonattainment" for ozone, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter.

DelDOT used the state's capital budget for the other 20 percent, Niezgoda said, and funds from The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 were used on a previously completed section of trail between Rt. 273 and Boulden Blvd.

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For avid bicyclists, the trail's upcoming completion is the culmination of years of effort.

James Wilson, executive director of the nonprofit Bike Delaware, said he has been advocating for the trail for eight years.

"We feel pretty darn good that it’s finally happening," he said.

The trail, which Wilson calls the Wilmington-New Castle Greenway, is unique in that it was led by DelDOT, not the department of natural resources and environmental control. Wilson said that represents a shift in how people think about biking, and he hopes to see similar projects statewide.

"There’s no question that people are going to be using this for recreation," he said. "But we very much hope it’ll be used for transportation purposes... We think there is a lot of pent-up demand."

Contact Christina Jedra at (302) 324-2837, cjedra@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @ChristinaJedra.