This bike trail project aims to connect Newport to Wilmington. What you need to know

A trail connecting the town of Newport and Wilmington is in its final stages of design and just received some major federal funding.

Earlier this summer, the Newport River Trail − a New Castle County project that would pave a 2-mile path for bikers and pedestrians − received a $23 million federal grant from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program. It's a massive lift for a project that works to further improve pathways in New Castle County.

County Executive Matt Meyer says the most recent estimate for the project's total cost is $27 million, though projections are constantly changing. At a May open house, a prior estimate put the total at $25 million.

Connecting Newport and the Markell trail

It's been a multiyear process to plan out the design of this trail, which will run from South James Street, just north of the Christina River, and connect to the Jack A. Markell Trail that leads to both New Castle and Wilmington.

In 2020, a feasibility study was conducted by the county. Two years later, plans were further finalized and this past February, a RAISE grant application was submitted to fund construction costs.

At the open house that presented the project to the public, it was pointed out that this path will provide a safe alternative for bikers and pedestrians who typically use Maryland Avenue to travel from downtown Wilmington to Newport, a busy route with two lanes on both sides.

The Markell trail starts in Wilmington but crosses over the Christina River before making its way to Newport. The current design of this new trail would erase that missing gap.

Local groups and people are excited about the new trail and the benefits it'll bring to not only recreational bikers but also those who bike for transportation. John Bare, a member of the nonprofit group Bike Delaware, sees this "multi-use" capability as crucial so that people can safely travel to and from work.

“Transportation is really where the action is in most of the bicycling community these days,” Bare said.

Meyer, the county executive, stressed that this comes with cost-saving measures for county residents, too.

“There are numerous people in our community, so many families, who spend way too much on commuting, on the price of a car, a car payment, gas," Meyer said. "Creating these paths and creating a whole trail system enables at least a percentage of our residents to look at (traveling) either a few times a week or every day in a way that’s a lot lower cost.”

Plus, Bare emphasized, there's the safety aspect of the trail, especially for those who make the Wilmington-to-Newport travel often with lots of vehicular traffic.

“Getting from Wilmington to Newport by bicycle is not for the faint of heart,” Bare said.

In 2022, Delaware had an eye-raising number of accidents involving cyclists and pedestrians compared with 2021. Per the Delaware Department of Transportation's Annual Traffic Statistical Report, 140 bikers were injured and seven died in traffic incidents last year. Two of those deaths were in New Castle County.

The year prior, only 98 bicyclists were injured, with two fatalities — both in Sussex County. Injuries in New Castle County rose from 49 in 2021 to 69 in 2022.

There were also 283 pedestrian injuries and 32 pedestrians killed last year in the state, largely steady with numbers from 2021. In both years, the number of New Castle County pedestrians injured and killed was over 200 and 20, respectively.

DATA DISCREPANCIES: Why Delaware's new searchable crash database has years of wrong information

Where is the money coming from?

RAISE grants were awarded to 162 projects across the U.S. this June. New Castle County wasn't the only state entity to receive money for a trail project.

DelDOT received a $21 million RAISE grant for its ongoing Georgetown to Lewes construction. The federal money will go toward finishing the construction of a 17-mile bike and pedestrian trail that will connect the two areas.

Meanwhile, the grant sheet noted that the Newport River Trail project would aid an "area of persistent poverty" and a "historically disadvantaged community."

The $23 million from the federal grant leaves a projected $4 million to be covered elsewhere.

“The other $4 million, we’re going to figure out between private sources, the state and the county,” Meyer said.

Partnerships are expected with the trail, but since construction has not started yet, Meyer doesn't expect any immediate conversations with potential private or public partners.

“We want to be closer to opening the trail where we can sit and say, ‘OK, let's put together a public-private partnership, or it might just be a private partnership,'" Meyer said.

What's the timeline for the Newport River Trail?

With the final design underway, Meyer has hopes that the project will take significant steps forward soon. He hopes to break ground sometime in 2024, though working through land use and environmental approvals will admittedly take some patience.

“We have an urgency about it in, in my office, getting it done, getting it done by yesterday," Meyer said.

It'll be a more strenuous process since it is the first new trail of many that may contribute to larger connections upstate, Bare said. But once more trails get added, more and more people tend to jump on board.

“The hardest part of it is not the last part, it’s the first part," Bare said. "Because once you get the first part in there, people say, ‘Oh, that’s really cool, let’s do some more.’”

Future projects in New Castle County

The Newport River Trail is just one of many planned future trails in the county's ongoing efforts to connect Newark, Newport, New Castle and Wilmington.

Meyer said there's much more to come moving forward. A mock-up from last spring's open house shows the county's desire for a trail that loops all the way around Wilmington.

When the Newport River Trail is constructed, possibilities connecting two of the state's largest cities — Wilmington and Newark — will arise. Bare noted the mall area in Newark as a place that should be looked at moving forward given its busy and dangerous nature for riders.

"That is a very difficult place to get into,” he said of the Christiana Mall.

Bikers in Delaware can also look forward to the ongoing construction project of an I-95 and Route 896 interchange. The $280 million project — expected to be completed by DelDOT in late 2025 — will have a separate path for cyclists and pedestrians to use to get from Newark to Glasgow without crossing high-speed, dangerous roads.

“Railroads, interstates, and rivers are tough to cross," Bare said.

WHERE TO BIKE: Your guide to cycling in Delaware.

Contact Konner Metz at kmetz@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @konner_metz.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Newport to Wilmington trail in final design stages, gets federal grant