page_title: Delaware State Route System
section_title: Freeways
hierarchical_section_title: Delaware State Route System / History / Freeways
caption_attribution_description: Southbound Interstate 95 (Delaware Turnpike) approaching the exits for Delaware Route 1/Delaware Route 7/Delaware Route 58 (exit 4) in Christiana, Delaware.
context_page_description: The Delaware State Route System consists of roads in the U.S. state of Delaware that are maintained by the Delaware Department of Transportation. The system includes the portions of the Interstate Highway System and United States Numbered Highways system located in the state along with state routes and other roads maintained by DelDOT. All roads maintained by the state are assigned a maintenance road number that is only marked on little white markers at intersections and on auxiliary plates below warning signs approaching intersections. These numbers are only unique in a specific county, some roads can be designated with multiple road numbers, and numbers do not necessarily correspond to the signed Interstate, U.S., or state route numbers. DelDOT maintains a total of 5,386.14 miles of roads, comprising 89 percent of the roads within the state. Some large bridges in the state are maintained by other agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Delaware River and Bay Authority. Roads in the system include multilane freeways, multilane surface divided highways, and two-lane undivided roads serving urban, suburban, and rural areas.
context_section_description: In 1956, the Interstate Highway System was created, with under 40 miles (64 km) of Interstate Highway planned in New Castle County. The first Interstate came in 1959 when the Delaware Memorial Bridge approach was upgraded to Interstate Highway standards and became part of I-295. The portion of I-95 between the Maryland border near Newark and Newport and I-295 between Newport and the approach to the Delaware Memorial Bridge in Farnhurst was to be built as a free Interstate Highway using federal funds, but was built as the tolled Delaware Turnpike instead in order to speed up construction. On November 15, 1963, the turnpike opened to traffic. The Delaware Turnpike allowed motorists to travel from Washington, D.C. to Boston without having to stop at a traffic light. In 1968, I-95 was completed between the Delaware Turnpike and the Pennsylvania border. The I-495 bypass to the east of Wilmington fully opened in 1977.
  In the 1980s, plans were made for a limited-access Relief Route of US 13 between Dover and the Wilmington area that would alleviate it of traffic heading to the Delaware Beaches in the summer. This Relief Route would become designated as part of DE 1, a route that ran along the Atlantic Ocean in Sussex County and north to Milford. The DE 1 toll road between Dover Air Force Base and Christiana opened in stages between 1991 and 2003. The total cost to build the DE 1 toll road was $900 million and it was the largest public works project in Delaware history.
  Since the 1950s, a freeway has been planned along the US 301 corridor between I-95 and the Maryland border southwest of Middletown in order to provide a connection from the Delaware Memorial Bridge towards the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the Washington, D.C. area. The most recent proposal called for US 301 to be built as a limited-access toll road from the Maryland border southwest of Middletown northeast to DE 1 in St. Georges. Construction began in 2016 and the highway opened to traffic in 2019.
caption: Southbound I-95 through Churchman's Marsh, approaching interchange with DE 1/DE 7/DE 58
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