Transportation
Modern transportation in Delaware has been imposed on some old patterns stemming from a time when New Castle was the state capital, and rivers and canals were the main means of hauling goods. Newark served as a crossroads between New Castle and major cities in bordering states.
This section of our website is devoted to newcomers who are making their way around the area for the first time. It describes some issues of interest and peculiarities about traveling in and around Newark. We hope this information will help you negotiate the area with greater ease. Happy traveling!
Car
Bicycle
Bus
Train
Airplane
If you have any comments, corrections or additional information, please contact us.link
TRANSPORTATION BY CAR
Delaware Roads
Driving on and around Campus
Registering your Car and Getting a License
DELAWARE ROADS
Even though cars have GPS these days, newcomers to Delaware are advised to have maps and a navigator along when they first start exploring the local area. Names of roads on the GPS are not necessarily the names on the street signs as many roads change names as you move through different townships. Many roads are still listed by their destinations, e.g. Main Street in Newark is Nottingham Road as you drive westward and its route number is Hwy. 272.
Delaware borders three other states: MD, NJ and PA. The Philadelphia airport can be reached by car in 45 minutes (use the I-495 by-pass to get past Wilmington); Philadelphia itself is only 1 hour away. Baltimore is just 50-60 minutes away and the Baltimore airport is 15-20 minutes further on, south of the city.
Between towns, the roads seldom run on a grid system as they parallel rivers or run along old trading routes. Sometimes what looks like a simple roadway on the map may turn out to be a four-lane road with free-way like exits to bypass historic townships or waterways while accommodating modern traffic needs. The freeway, I-95, is the main but not only way to go north to Philadelphia or south to Baltimore, and is useful for quick trips over to Wilmington (as long as you are not in rush hour traffic). A major thoroughfare to the Delaware shore is Route 1.
As you become more familiar with the roads and towns, you will learn useful shortcuts to avoid the busiest roads.Map of the Area
Traffic patterns
Every region of the country has its particular quirks when it comes to traffic patterns. Notorious in Newark is Main Street, a one-way thoroughfare which is usually swollen with both mechanized and foot traffic. The pedestrian crossings on Main Street and elsewhere on campus give those on foot the right of way and can make for a lot of stop and go driving. (See ‘Driving on and around Campus’.)
Some lights are longer than others and they are not timed. It generally takes longer than you think to drive from one place to another, so plan ahead!U-turns are permitted in many areas. Double green arrows at an intersection with one turn lane indicate that left turns and U-turns are permitted. In many areas, the absence of a sign prohibiting U-turns indicates that they are permissible.
Street Names and Numbers
As stated above, some streets change their name as they cross an intersection. Sometimes the name of the street may not match the name on your GPS, which can add to the confusion. As in many localities around the US, not all streets are well marked, and street numbers may not be clearly visible on homes and businesses.Toll Charges
When driving to Newark from Baltimore on I-95, be sure to use the Route 279 exit (Newark, Elkton) to avoid paying an extra $5 toll in Delaware (in addition to the $5 you paid to leave Maryland).
From Philadelphia or Wilmington on I-95, select Exit 3a, Route 273 to Newark or Exit 2, Route 896 to avoid an extra toll.
Most bridges to New Jersey or across the Chesapeake Bay have toll fees. Route 1 in Delaware as it heads south to Dover charges several modest tolls.
DRIVING ON AND AROUND CAMPUS
Several routes cross through campus—most notably:
Route 896 travels north-south and connects Delaware to Pennsylvania as it heads out of Newark to the north, and leads to I-95 and southern Delaware as it leaves Newark going south. As it goes through campus, it is called South College Avenue. As it heads north out of town, it is called New London Road. These two north-south segments of 896 are separated by a short east-west stretch of West Main Street.
Route 273 going east-west, connects Delaware and Maryland just west of Newark, and to the east it leads to a convenient exit on I-95 (especially if you’re headed to downtown Wilmington or Philadelphia) and to Christiana. As it goes through Newark, it is called East and West Delaware Avenue.
Route 2 is called Main Street as it runs one way westward through Newark. It continues as Elkton Road where the two-way traffic is restored on the west end of Main Street. East of Newark, route 2 takes a marked bend to the north where it is called Capitol Trail, or more commonly, Kirkwood Highway. J Yes, it can be confusing.Pedestrian Crossings
On campus and on Main street, watch for the neon green pedestrian notices with the arrow pointing to the cross walk. This is where the students walk across the roads and vehicles are obliged to yield to pedestrians. No right turns on red are permitted at many intersections with these crosswalks. Be alert to bicyclists and skateboarders!Other Traffic Alerts
Freight trains travel through town regularly. Look out for railroad crossings where route 896 (New London Road), West Main Street and Elkton Road meet, as well as on North College Avenue near the Studio Arts Building (between Cleveland Avenue and West Main Street).
As stated above, there are some lights around town which keep you sitting longer than others. Time and experience will tell you which are the ones which impact you the most.
Campus Road Map
Parking on Campus
Tips: The Delaware Avenue-Elkton Road do-si-do and the NAME FOR THIS INTERSECTION
PARKING ON CAMPUS
Metered parking on campus runs until midnight; one quarter for 12 minutes. There are three parking structures on campus that charge $1.30 per hour:
Trabant University Center Garage at the corner of West Main and 896/New London Road
Center for the Arts Parking Garage at the corner of Amstel Avenue and Elkton Road
Perkins Student Center Garage at the corner of Academy Street and Courtney Street.
There are several types of parking permits from daily to yearlong. See: http://www.udel.edu/PublicSafety/parkserv_general.html for complete information or stop by the Public Safety department at 413 Academy Street, 8 –5 pm. You can find maps for parking areas on campus on this website.
All University parking lots are open to any level of parking pass after 4:00 pm.
[put map here]
Negotiating the Delaware Avenue/Elkton Road/896 do-si-do.
The intersection of Main Street, Elkton Road, Delaware Avenue and Route 896 on the west side of UD is a bit scary until you get into the rhythm. The map does not do it justice!Coming from downtown Newark on West Main Street you have 3 choices:
To head back to campus, keep to the left. Yield the right-of-way to pedestrians in the crosswalk and merging traffic!
If you are headed north out of Newark toward Pennsylvania, take a right onto 896N (New London Road) at the Deerpark Restaurant (a local landmark).
A third choice is to thread the needle, go first left and then slightly right and you’ll be on Elkton road, which heads southwest out of Newark towards Maryland.
Coming from north of the intersection on West Main Street you have 2 and a half choices:
Make a hard right onto Elkton Road and head straight southwest towards Maryland.
Turn right then immediately left onto West Delaware Avenue to head into the campus.
We do not recommend this, but there is a short stretch of pavement to the left of West Main Street which passes in front of the railroad tracks and connects to 896N.
Pedestrian Alert!: There are crosswalks all over this area and on the roads leading out of it!
Railroad Crossing Alert!:
(Cars driving north on Elkton Road must turn right at Delaware Avenue). If these drivers need to go north on South College Avenue, they must switch to the left hand lanes of Delaware Avenue either ahead of or behind you. It is a square dance routine we go through every day. Meanwhile, watch out for people in the road:[put map here]
Which lane for where? Coming from the Kirkwood Highway (Route 2 from Wilmington) southwest into Newark, there are several lights and many choices. A dedicated right-turn-only lane sends you onto Cleveland Avenue heading west. Stay in the right hand lane and the road becomes Library Road and goes under the railroad bridge with the painted mural. Take the branch to the right to reach Main Street (and McDonald’s). If you want the Newark Free Library, stay in the right hand lane, go straight and turn right on Main Street at the light. The Library parking lot entrance is the first driveway immediately on the left. If you want to go to the big Post Office on the corner (or go down Route 273), make a left turn from Library Road using the right hand lane of the double turn. If you are headed for the College Square Shopping Center (K-Mart, Sears Hardware) go straight on Library Road for a half block after Main Street and turn eastward (left) at the next stoplight. If you are heading south (now the road is called South Chapel Road), watch for the right-turn-only lane at Wyoming Street.
REGISTERING YOUR CAR AND GETTING A LICENSE
The closest Department of Motor Vehicles to Newark is New Castle Division of Motor Vehicles, Airport and Churchmans Road, New Castle, Delaware 19720, (302) 326-5000.
To get there, take Highway 4 eastward from Newark to Churchman’s Road (Hwy 58, just past the Christiana Hospital) and turn right. Continue southeast past the Center Point Shopping Center and past I-95 to Airport Road (Hwy. 37). Turn right and look for the building on the immediate right hand side.
The offices are open 8 am –4:30 pm, Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri.
Wednesday, noon-8 pm. See https://citizen.dmv.de.gov for complete details.
The website advises the best times during the week to stop by the DMV. Depending on time of day, week or month, your experience at DMV may be calm, relaxed or it may something quite different.Basic information for new residents is at http://www.dmv.de.gov/forms/veh_serv_forms/pdfs/ve_frm_newresid.pdf . New residents must get a driver’s license and register the car within 60 days of moving to Delaware.
Tips
Check the website before going to the DMV to register your car or obtain a license. The process goes much more smoothly if you have all the ID you need when you arrive. This may mean birth certificate or passport as well as current driver’s license. You need to have the title or bill of sale, insurance coverage and a current insurance card in hand before you can register a car. A gross receipts tax of 3.75 % on the value of the car plus the annual fee is charged. Car inspection (including lights, horn, brakes and emissions check) is done at the DMV.
You are not automatically sent a renewal notice. DMV now prefers that you set up your renewal notice to be sent via e-mail rather than regular mail. When you renew the car registration (you can choose a 1 year or 2 year license sticker) you drive to the far back of the buildings where the inspection garages are and have the inspections done first before going into the offices to pay and get your new sticker.
BICYCLE
A limited number of streets in Newark have bicycle paths so bikes share the road with some heavy traffic on some routes. The City of Newark has published a bicycle route map that can be downloaded. See www.cityofnewarkde.us and click on Transportation.
The Newark Post announced May 7, 2010, that the City of Newark has been named a Bicycle Friendly Community, Bronze level, by the League of American Bicyclists. The League will be partnering with Newark to work toward improving bicycling safety ordinances, bike lanes and bicycling enforcement. The Newark Bicycle Committee can be reached at www.wilmapco.org/BikeNewark.
The University has a brief mention about bicycles under http://www.udel.edu/transportation/alternative_transportation.html#biking
BUSES
U.D. Shuttle Bus
Newark Bus System
Delaware Bus System
U.D. SHUTTLE BUS
UD has a shuttle bus system that runs from the dorms and around the campus on a regular schedule. Students, faculty, staff –anyone with UD identification may ride the shuttle bus. The buses run frequently during the day; less frequently in the evening or weekends. The University website: http://www.udel.edu/transportation has the maps and schedules for the bus routes that traverse the whole university from the Laird campus on the north to the stadium at the south.
New this year—live tracking of the shuttle buses. See www.udshuttle.com or call (302) 721-5072 on your cell phone while you are waiting at the bus stop to see where the bus is on its route.
NEWARK BUS SYSTEM
The Unicity Bus System is a free service of the city of Newark and UD Transit. Running only Monday-Friday in the morning to early afternoon, the route covers Main Street, New London Road up to the Fairfield Shopping center, down the Elkton Road to Suburban Plaza, Park Avenue, various apartment complexes, Chestnut Hill Plaza, the train station, the Senior Citizen Center off Marrows Road, College Square shopping Center and the library and high school. Call UD at 831-1187 or Newark Planning Department at 366-7030 or see http://www.udel.edu/SuppSrvc/bus/Unicity.html .
The City of Newark and New Castle County have created the Newark Transit Hub located between Delaware and Main Street near the Newark Shopping Center. Enter the parking lot at Farmer’s Road from Delaware Avenue or from Pomeroy Lanevia foot from Main Street. This is where you make all transfers for the DART buses that go to the main shopping centers (Christiana, People’s Plaza, Crown Center, Price’s Corner) or to downtown Wilmington (Rodney Square) or Amtrak (either Newark or Wilmington stations).
Newark has a trolley (DART Rt. 31) that loops from the Transit Hub to City Offices on Elkton Road, along Park St., by the Perkins Student Center, by the Library and back Down Main Street. DART passes are accepted on the trolley.
DELAWARE BUS SYSTEM
The Delaware Transit Corporation (DART) manages the bus system for the state of Delaware. The website is: http://www.dartfirststate.com (also reachable through www.udel.edu/transportation .
The site has bus maps (dated 2008, so you should double check the bus schedules to make sure the same routes are covered), fees, route-finder and FAQ to help you. Costs $1.15 per ride or less as student, senior or with passes.
Buses run daily but with abbreviated schedules on the weekend.
TRAINS
To Philadelphia
SEPTA (Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Association) is the intercity train system between Wilmington and Philadelphia that gets you to and from Wilmington and various places in and around Philadelphia, including to the Philadelphia Airport. You can catch this train at the Amtrak station in Wilmington and Newark. You can catch the SEPTA train at the AMTRAK station?] For complete information see www.septa.org.
To Philadelphia and beyond
Trains to major cities and other states are part of the AMTRAK system. See www.amtrak.com for schedules and prices plus descriptions of stations and whether a restaurant is available on particular trains.
AMTRAK Station in Newark
AMTRAK Station in Wilmington
AMTRAK Station in Newark [put in a cartoon here]The AMTRAK station in Newark is below the South College Avenue bridge which crosses over the railroad tracks just north of the UD Agriculture Buildings.
Stops at Newark are usually confined to rush hours. Weekend service is very limited.
Parking is on the west side of South College Avenue.
For trains going north, park adjacent to the old Chrysler plant across from the Agriculture Buildings (Townsend Hall). Look for the road running diagonally from the intersection toward the tracks. There is an AMTRAK sign directing you.
For trains going south, the parking lot is entered from a right hand lane of South College that descends on the immediate right as you approach the railroad bridge
Pedestrians can access the trains from a staircase off of the bridge. There are no enclosed waiting rooms. There are plans to make the old train station a museum for the Newark Historical Society.
AMTRAK Station in Wilmington
From Newark, take I-95 into Wilmington and get off at exit 6. (This might take less than half an hour if the traffic is light on the freeway.) Turn right onto Maryland Avenue and then right onto Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, following the signs to the Amtrak Station. Continue straight past the Riverfront turnoff. The parking structure is located within the low red brick buildings ahead on the right. The station is at the south end of the parking structure.
The Wilmington station is under renovation. Ticket offices and gates are in temporary locations, so plan extra time to buy tickets.
You can usually save money by purchasing tickets online. Fares vary by time of day.
Travel to Philadelphia: The train to Philadelphia goes to the 30th Street Station on the west side of the city where you can then catch SEPTA buses to other parts of the city. There is SEPTA train service to the Philadelphia Airport available from 30th Street Station. This dedicated train runs frequently and stops just outside Terminal E (Southwest Airlines terminal). [SEPTA link]
Travel to Baltimore: [expand to include similar information about where the train stops in Baltimore before getting to the airport] Amtrak trains from Wilmington go directly to the Baltimore Airport on the way to Washington D.C.
Move quickly on and off the trains. They don’t often stop for very long at any of the stations. Some food is available and there is wi-fi service. See www.amtrak.com for complete information.
AIRPLANES
Newark is midway between two major airports, the Philadelphia International Airport and Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI). Philadelphia is the easiest to reach as it is just off I-95 south of Philadelphia. Under normal traffic conditions you can usually reach this airport in 45 minutes. Further Philadelphia International Airport information.
Baltimore Washington Airport, BWI, serves the Baltimore and northern Washington D.C. area. It is just over an hour away from Newark via I-95 ($5 toll) and is south of Baltimore, through the Harbor Tunnels ($2 toll). Further BWI information.
The Philadelphia Airport may have more frequent weather delays than the Baltimore Airport in the winter. Also, different airlines offer differing schedules so it may be worth comparing the two.
There are several airport express shuttles. [look at Philadelphia airport website for shuttle info] Look at Delaware Express Shuttle Inc., www.delexpress.com or call toll free at 1-800-648-5466. Also Air Link Shuttle, (302) 369-5669 or Owens Express Shuttle Service, (302) 738-9750.
FURTHER PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT INFORMATION
The Philadelphia airport terminal has been undergoing extensive renovation. The terminals are labeled A, B, C, D, E and F and are arranged linearly.
Each terminal has a short term parking lot, just across from the passenger dropoff areas.
A cell phone waiting area is located near the terminal. Signs directing you to this lot are located on the left before you enter the terminals.
Long term, economy parking managed by the airport is located beyond the terminal area. Shuttles to this long term lot and others owned by private companies, pick up and discharge passengers outside the baggage claim area. You can find rental car shuttles here as well.
Certain city buses stop here also and SEPTA train stops near the E and F terminal and will take you directly into Philadelphia.[put in SEPTA link]Further BWI Airport information.
FURTHER BWI AIRPORT INFORMATION
Driving south to BWI, take I-295 (the Washington-Baltimore Beltway). Exit on the right after you emerge from the Harbor Tunnel. Drive about 15-20 minutes and then take the BWI Airport exit on the left to I-195 towards the airport. Follow the road to the terminal.
For short term parking, keep to the left. There is a parking structure with 6 levels. The number of available spaces on each level is posted above each ramp. Inside the structure, empty spaces are each designated by a green light. You can either pay for the parking at kiosks in the terminal before you return to your car, or as you leave the parking structure.
For long term parking, follow the posted signs as [you’re looking at the BWI website for more info on long term parking]
for rental car returns [research on rental car lots]
Amtrak has a line that runs from _____ to _______stops at the Baltimore International Airport [research Amtrak to BWI]Further Philadelphia International Airport information.