A: A State Scenic and Historic Highway is a designation given by the Secretary of the Delaware Department of Transportation to roadways or routes that possess special intrinsic quality.
 

A: A roadway must be nominated first to the Department of Transportation by any interested party. The nomination will go through a process as defined in the Program Guide. If the road is worthy of designation based on the criteria set forth in the Program Guide and after going through the process, the designation will be made.
 

A: Intrinsic quality is a term used by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) which means "scenic, historic, recreational, cultural, archeological, or natural features that are considered representative, unique, irreplaceable, or distinctly characteristic of an area."
 

A: Any interested party can nominate a route, including individuals; local governments; counties; tourism departments; historical societies; non-profit organizations; state and federal agencies; or a Corridor Advocacy Group formed of citizens, groups or local governments. The party nominating a route is called a sponsor.
 

A: The sponsor needs to provide a physical description of the route, representative photographs, a map indicating the boundaries of the corridor, an intrinsic quality resource inventory, a written statement that summarizes and evaluates the significance of the primary intrinsic quality for which the highway merits designation and that also describes the significance of any secondary intrinsic qualities present along the route; a written description of what a traveler will see when traversing the corridor; a description of public involvement conducted to date and the comments and input that have resulted from this process.
 

A: Yes. One step in the review of a nomination consists of review by an Evaluation Committee comprised of state officials who are knowledgeable in the evaluation of the various intrinsic qualities for which a corridor may be nominated. DelDOT encourages a byway sponsor to request a meeting with this group once information has been gathered about the corridor’s intrinsic qualities, to review the merits of the proposed corridor based on the significance of the resources present there. You can talk with DelDOT’s State Scenic and Historic Highways Coordinator to request a meeting and about the best timing for it.
 

A: A nomination can be designated based on the significance of just one intrinsic quality. It will not have a better chance of designation if there are multiple qualities cited. However, if there are other qualities among the six categories recognized for Delaware’s SSHH Program (scenic, historic, cultural, natural, archeological, recreational), and if these qualities are significant and contribute to the overall attractiveness and interest of the corridor, they should be described in the nomination. In addition to the primary quality cited, there may be up to five secondary qualities in a corridor. Supporting qualities are not a term that is used in the program.
 

A: The nomination should include a written description of the boundary or limits of the corridor. Generally, sponsors will use the intrinsic resource list to determine the corridor’s limits. For example, a nomination’s text could indicate that the byway limits include intrinsic qualities adjacent to the right-of-way as well as viewsheds that are referenced either in the text or on a map.
 

A: It may be helpful for a long route to divide it into character areas. Character areas are areas that are differentiated from adjacent areas by having similar landscape character, perhaps enclosed by landforms or vegetation or distinguished by land uses and development. It is preferable to refer to these character areas as “sections” (not as segments) of the continuous route.
 

A: No, the photos do not need to be provided in a specific format. It is the goal of the State Scenic and Historic Highways Program that preparing and submitting a nomination should not be more onerous or costly than needed. For some sponsor groups, it may be easier to include photos in the text (with captions identifying their locations). For others it may be easier to include photos at the end in a photolog.
 

A: Yes, it could. Cultural resources may include crafts, music, arts, dance or drama, rituals, tribal customs, festivals, language, foods, special events, vernacular architecture, physical or recognized legacies, and customs practices by people, in the past or present.