Infrastructure

Is the nerve system of all commerce since the time of the Romans. Mankind has never stopped building roads, bridges, highways, airports, and seaports that facilitate the movement of goods and people. Without the necessary network and an adequate infrastructure, any nation, state, country, region, or county cannot compete, let alone survive on an economic level for any length of time. Dover’s dilemma is the inadequate network of roads. Since Delaware is water locked from three directions and the only way around these bodies of water is a lengthy detour through the north, it is difficult to move goods at a long distance and in a short time.

Dover has a military air base but not a commercial airport, which makes it difficult for commercial air traffic to transport goods from and into the city. In October 1927 in northern Delaware, the famous world aviator Charles Lindbergh told the crowd: “Get yourself an airport, no city should be without an airport.” http://www.state.de.us/dedo/setting, setting the trend for economic growth.

According to Adler, H. A. (1987:33-34), it is frequently assumed that all transport improvements stimulate economic development. The sad truth is that some do, some do not, and even some of those that do may not be economically justified because there may be better investment opportunities. Before any transport improvement can be said to have stimulated economic development, a number of conditions must be met. The most important one is that the economic development would not have taken place without the transport improvement. It is also an issue of using resources productively.

The map of the U.S. interstate highway system presents a visual image of physical linkages among regions. Although this image is useful in considering the new economic paradigm, it is an oversimplification that risks the casual assumption that the economic regions are most closely linked to those most proximate to them. Clearly, in many cases this will be true, although advances in transportation and communications technologies are reducing the time and cost benefits of propinquity and proximity, noted Barnes, W. R., & Ledebur, L. C. (1998:70).

Dover has two major arteries: Route 13, or DuPont Highway runs from the north to the south of the state, and Route 8 runs from east to west. Both routes are inadequate for heavy traffic, and they are more than 50 years old. This inadequate infrastructure is run down, but so too are the State’s other roads such as the intra-state highways, especially in winter when holes and erosion are more visible and leave nothing to the imagination when an ordinary user hits one of them. Lack of budget and lack of resources make it difficult to maintain this essential and basic network, in spite of the fact that much of it is a toll road on which users pay to drive. Nevertheless, the money collected is hardly enough to maintain it. This situation is not conducive to commercial and economic development for Dover and the rest of the state, where its major trading or manufacturing partners are located.

Bernstein, M. A., & Adler, D. E., eds. (1994:259), commented on the deteriorating infrastructure, noting, last, but hardly least, we were running down our physical infrastructure – the bridges, roads, electrical systems, and water systems which provide the necessary foundation for production and distribution. And the alarm was being sounded from all points on the political compass, invoking the wisdom of Adam Smith that public works are essential to “facilitate the commerce of society.”

While Hugh L. McColl Jr., Chairman and CEO of Bank of America, was quoted saying: “Smart growth is pro-growth. We know that developers, banks and the entire community rely on growth to fuel the economy. The goal is not to limit growth, but to channel it to areas where infrastructure allows growth to be sustained over the long term.” From the 1999 report “Profiles of Business Leadership on Smart Growth,” published by the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals.

Public transportation is also inadequate to entice people to use public transport in the city or to travel far afield, which impacts the overall situation in regards to employment and productivity. Car-ownership costs in most American households have been identified as the largest expense after rent or mortgage and account for almost one-third of spending by many low-income families. Delaware’s new public-private Smart Commute Initiative is intended to boost both home ownership and transit use by giving prospective buyers additional qualifying points for mortgages on homes near bus or rail stops and extending this financial incentive to key workers such as state employees who participate in van pools.

This initiative was sponsored by the Citizen Bank, DelDOT (Delaware Department of Transport), and its DART arm (Delaware bus network) by offering free bus passes for those who live within 3/4 miles from the nearest bus stop. The bank considers the money spent on transportation as an integral part of the income to boost scoring, which accounts for an income of $200 to $250 a month based on a single earner or a shared income. (3.05.2005: www.state.de.us/planning)

The Dover Post, May 11, 2005, highlighted the issue of parking difficulties at Wesley College and the congestion in adjacent streets that affects traffic and the local residents. The solution is still under study by Wesley College, and the city authority. The problem might create a conflict of interests, yet no one wishes to look as if he is acting against students’ interests because nobody wishes to alienate this population.

“The total allocation of funded projects in the county is not nearly enough,” said Metro Planning organization executive director Juanita Wieczoreck. She added, “We feel we have gotten the short end of the stick.” This situation has left many other urgent projects unfunded. This year is a bad year for Dover and Kent County as transportation funding for the year 2006 has been significantly reduced to its lowest:

Transportation Improvement Programme Budgetary Distribution in Delaware’s Three Counties, FY 2006.

Budget

This distribution of funds makes the total share for Kent County, including the city of Dover, 4.52% of the total budget of $351,410,000. Dover/Kent County Metropolitan Planning organization issued its Long Range Transportation Plan in the Dover Post, March 30, 2005, outlining the following:

It is estimated that population will grow by 25% between 2000 and 2030.
Population will grow from 136,993 to 183,576.
Households will grow from 47,224 to 63,432.
Employment figures will grow from 61,729 to 73,499.
Employment is expected to grow by 18%.
Percentage of land that is residential will grow from 15% to 21%.
More workers are choosing to drive alone.
Fewer workers are choosing to walk, bicycle, or carpool.
More people are riding transit, but not to work.
The number of vehicles owned by each household is increasing, with most households owning at least two vehicles.
The annual number of vehicle miles traveled has increased at a greater rate than the total roadway mileage, vehicles or drivers.
Average travel time for work trips has been steadily increasing.

Transportation Needs:

Deficient and obsolete bridges: 27.
Linear miles of roadway in fair/poor condition: 516.
Transit passenger trips annually: 308,716.
Total number of vehicle crashes annually: 2,610.
Public park-and-ride and park-and-pool facilities: 11.
Percentage driving alone: 66%.
Carpoolers: 28%.
Number of public use airports: 6.
Miles of active rail freight lines: 56.
Among its chief objectives is to improve access and mobility while ensuring the safety of all citizens and to strengthen local economies by maintaining and improving transport and roads infrastructure in collaboration with the Delaware Department of Transport.
However, no matter how ambitious this plan, the budgetary requirement is far from covering basic needs, and the population is well aware of the current situation and trends. According to the Dover Post, November 9, 2005, Delaware’s Department of Transportation is looking for ways to make up a $2.7 billion shortfall, which has been disbursed through a transport plan that extends to 2012 as follows:

FY 2007 - $233million.
FY 2008 - $333million.
FY 2009 - $414million.
FY 2010 - $489million.
FY 2011 - $570million.
FY 2012 - $681million.
Total $2.72 billion, Long Term Deficit

Barnes, W. R., & Ledebur, L. C. (1998:12), emphasize that the nationalist paradigm and its statistic view of the “nation as economy,” although dominant, is not unchallenged. Jane Jacobs, writing in the early 1980’s, argued that cities, not nations, are economies and the economic engines of growth. Recently, Kenichi Ohmae, addressing the concept of a global economy without national borders, shined new light on the diminishing economic roles of nation-states. For both Ohmae and Jacobs, the underlying thesis is that nations are not the real economies. Both also embrace an economism in which economics transcends politics.

Wilmington in the north fits the previous scenario as an economy on its own, while Dover does not. In spite of the fact that Dover has a competitive element and a strategic location, it does not have the adequate infrastructure of good roads, seaports, or an international airport. It is locked by water; the only exit from the city is to the north, which can be crowded, or to the west and North; and both exits require a bridge crossing of a major body of water. Thus, it cannot sustain needed economic growth. There is a quagmire of political pressure due to lack of necessary funds to improve Dover’s and Delaware’s infrastructure. It is an almost desperate situation that requires an intervention from the federal government to address these issues of infrastructure that impact dramatically and strategically on economic development targets and objectives. Among the interviewees, Dr. Kirkpatrick, Associate Professor of Psychology at Wesley College, confirmed the above situation by indicating that he does not see transportation as a viable option. Dr. Sue Fox, Professor of History at Wesley, emphasized that infrastructure had not kept up with the housing boom and many issues needed to be addressed.

Delaware Rail Network
Delaware’s first railroad, the New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad, began operating in 1832, providing a land link between the Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River. The railroad’s first cars resembled stagecoaches, and until an engine could be imported from England, horses pulled the cars along the line. Success lasted just a few years as larger, better financed, and better located railroads soon outpaced the company.
Like canals and turnpikes, railroads brought prosperity to the towns they connected. One of the nation’s earliest railroads, the New Castle and Frenchtown (1832), followed the route of an earlier turnpike, running a short distance between ports on the Delaware and Chesapeake. Next came the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (1838). This railroad connected northern Delaware to a growing regional and national network. In 1855, the Delaware Railroad began to run rails in a new direction, to the food-producing farms in southern Delaware. These new tracks, on the western edge of the state, linked inland communities to Wilmington and larger markets. As the railroads expanded through the 1800s, their rails and names criss-crossed the state. At the height of the railroad era, Delaware had over 330 miles of track, held by 14 companies, and 76 individual stations. With the introduction of new ways to travel in the twentieth century, however, freight and passenger rail service declined or even died away. (www.hsd.org/DHE/DHE_where_transport_railroads.htm)

The response from interviewees reflected the image of roads in poor condition, as the majority of sidewalks and public transportation are nearly non-existent, elaborated Dr. Coplan, Provost/ Executive Vice-President of Wesley College. Other interviewees reflected their views and opinions as follows:

Delaware Rail Map & Existing Network

Du Pont Highway, Route 13