2 Del. Admin. Code § 1.6
Entrances shall be located where the highway alignment and profile are favorable, where there are no sharp curves, steep grades or other factors that would limit sight lines, in order to provide the appropriate sight distance, in accordance with Section 5.4, Sight Distance. Refer to Figure 1.5.1 for guidance on entrance spacing. When feasible and practical, two adjacent commercial properties should use a common ingress and egress from the public highway. The first property owner should establish and record a cross access easement regarding the location and design of such ingress and egress subject to the review and approval of DelDOT.
Access locations and allowable movements shall be determined at DelDOT's discretion including but not limited to; granting an access to a State-maintained roadway, requiring design and operational modifications, restricting one or more turning movements or denying the access. For individual residential access requirements, refer to Chapter 7.
Considerations for the placement of entrances should include evaluation of sight distance, location of adjacent entrances, length of auxiliary lanes, distance from intersecting streets, adjacent street queue lengths and the adjacent street speed limit. Where feasible, entrances shall not be located within 40 feet of an intersection radius, within queues of adjacent intersections or on acceleration and deceleration lanes. The applicant may be required to provide analysis to document how a proposed access point will satisfy the requirements of this manual. See Chapter 2 for additional information on Traffic Operational Analyses and Traffic Impact Studies.
Site circulation should be designed to allow vehicles to easily enter the site without blocking entrances or parking spaces, and without impacting traffic control phasing. The design vehicle shall be able to perform all necessary maneuvers within the site to enter and exit the roadway safely. Backing of delivery vehicles and trucks into or out of a site entrance will not be permitted.
Both Major and Minor Subdivisions should be designed to ensure that lot layouts allow for safe and practical driveway locations. Driveway locations should also be accounted for in the configuration of residual lands of subdivisions.
Figure 1.5.1 Spacing of Driveways and Entrances
Along some sections of State-maintained roadway, access rights have been obtained by DelDOT in the form of a recorded deed (e.g., Denial of Access, conservation easement, etc.). Where access is controlled by deed, there is no right of direct access through the deeded section. The property owner so affected may inquire with DelDOT about changes or purchase of any deeded access rights. The purchasing or revising of access rights by deed is regulated under 17 Del. C. § 137(b). Where access is not restricted by deed, an entrance permit consistent with the requirements of the Development Coordination Manual is still required for the construction and use of a driveway.
Traffic signals and their installation are guided by the Delaware Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (DE MUTCD) and subject to approval by the DelDOT Traffic Section.
Additional information and additional analysis based upon other factors and standards may be required if determined to be necessary for a complete evaluation.
Any access that would not meet the highway bandwidth requirements above, (if a traffic signal were installed), shall not be signalized and shall be limited to right turns.
All opposing traffic movements shall be separated by physical constraints such as grade separations and median separators. Access, consisting of directional ramps, shall be suitably spaced and designed to provide the minimum differential between the speed of the through traffic stream and the speed of the merging or diverging vehicles. Location and design of access shall be determined on an individual basis by DelDOT. Each access allowed to a limited access highway must receive the specific approval of the Chief Engineer and the FHWA. Access to interstate highways must comply with federal regulations. Temporary access may be allowed during official emergencies or where directly related to a freeway construction project.
Private direct access may only be permitted on an arterial if there is no other reasonable access from a lower classification roadway, and if the access rights have not been previously purchased by the State.
All private direct access permitted shall be limited to right turns only unless a left turn movement can be designed that, in the opinion of DelDOT, meets all safety requirements.
For commercial or major residential subdivisions, no additional access rights shall accrue upon the splitting or dividing of existing parcels or contiguous parcels under the same ownership or control. All access to the newly created properties shall be provided internally from a single access. Any new access determined by the permit application shall be consistent with the requirements of the Development Coordination Manual.
All access provided to arterials shall be done so with the understanding that if the highway is reconstructed to a limited access highway, alternative access may be provided by a service road or other means.
The design of all collector roadways should be capable of achieving a posted speed limit of 35 to 45 MPH on urbanized signalized segments and preferably 50 MPH in rural areas. A speed limit of 35 to 45 MPH in urbanized areas is acceptable where posted and there is little or no possibility of achieving higher speeds. If municipalities allow lesser speed limits, and there is little or no possibility of achieving higher speeds, a 25 MPH speed limit will be acceptable.
For commercial or major residential subdivisions, no additional access rights shall accrue upon the splitting or dividing of existing parcels or contiguous parcels under the same ownership or control. All access to the newly created properties should be provided internally from a single access. Any new access determined by the permit application shall be consistent with the requirements of the Development Coordination Manual.
The design of all local roads should be capable of achieving a posted speed limit of 30 to 50 MPH. The posted speed limit shall be used to meet the requirements of access to State-maintained roadways unless an approved plan or study shows improvements to the highway require a higher speed limit be used.
One access may be allowed from a State-maintained roadway to an individual parcel or to contiguous parcels under the same ownership or control where such access will not compromise the safety and operation of the roadway. Additional access may be provided in certain circumstances (see Section 7.2.3.1).
One direct access may be allowed from a service road to an individual parcel or to contiguous parcels under the same ownership or control where such access will not be detrimental to the safety and operation of the service road.
Additional access may be allowed when DelDOT determines that the following conditions are met:
2 Del. Admin. Code § 1.6
15 DE Reg. 551 (10/01/11)
16 DE Reg. 1199 (5/1/2013)
18 DE Reg. 240 (9/1/2014)
18 DE Reg. 709 (3/1/2015)
19 DE Reg. 938 (4/1/2016)
23 DE Reg. 378 (11/1/2019) (Final)