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The DuPont Highway
With hopes to "build a monument 100 miles high and lay it on the ground," T. Coleman DuPont approached the Delaware
General Assembly in 1911 to submit his proposal for the private construction of a highway stretching from Delmar
to Wilmington. Upon being granted the necessary charter and the authority to acquire right-of-way throughout the
state, DuPont set himself upon the monumental task of constructing the highway that would later become known
as one of America's finest.
Offering to personally cover the highway's expenses before turning it over to
state control, DuPont would eventually invest $3,917,004 in the construction of the roadway that effectively linked
northern and southern Delaware for the first time. Construction of the highway moved slowly at first, impeded by the objections
of Sussex County farmers that the construction of the highway only served to further DuPont's own private interests.
By 1917, the year in which the Delaware State Highway Department was formed,
such interruptions had caused construction of the DuPont Highway to be far behind schedule. The newly formed Highway
Department assumed control of the still unfinished road, while DuPont agreed to continue paying the construction
expenses for up to $44,000 per mile. Finally completed under the Highway Department's jurisdiction in 1924, the
section of the DuPont Highway stretching from Claymont to Dover is now known as U.S. 13, while the Dover to Selbyville
section is now designated as U.S. 113.
The construction of the DuPont Highway had far-reaching implications for
Delaware's economy. Providing a hard-surfaced road to many Sussex County residents for the first time, the construction
of the road effectively launched the county's now thriving poultry industry. The construction of the highway provided
rural Delaware with a link to urban markets, at last making Kent and Sussex County formidable competitors in an increasingly
industrial age.
As the Delaware Department of Transportation celebrates its 85th
birthday, it is completing construction on a new north-south route, State Route 1. This controlled-access highway stretching
from Wilmington to Dover is the largest public works project ever initiated by the Department. The construction of
a new north-south route will relieve traffic from U.S. 13, the northern section of what was formerly the DuPont
Highway, making the roadway less important in the daily lives of many Delaware residents. But regardless of what
the future holds for the DuPont Highway, the important role it played in shaping the economic development of
Delaware in the twentieth century cannot be denied.
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