The St. Georges Bridge over the C&D Canal is closed for repairs until 2025. The Delmarva main route crosses this bridge on its journey south along the west shore of Delaware Bay. There are two existing detours that a rider could take though both have factors that need consideration. The easiest, shortest detour would be, from Delaware City (east of St. Georges along the north bank of the canal), continue south on SR 9 over the Reedy Point Bridge and rejoin the main route at Port Penn. Unfortunately SR 9 through this area has safety issues in the form of limited-to-no-shoulders (the bridge crossing itself has narrow raised "walkways"- wider in southbound direction than northbound- that take over much of the rideable space), though this is mitigated somewhat by lower average daily traffic numbers (2100 vehicles in 2022). The other detour option would be to follow the mapped 193.5 mi. Chesapeake Option on the west side of the peninsula. This route alternate departs the main route in St. Georges, but would represent quite the change to a ride itinerary set up to follow the main route down the east shore and through service-rich beach towns of Lewes, Rehoboth Beach, Bethany Beach and Ocean City. The Chesapeake Option is more remote and has fewer services.
Here is info about the bridge repair project:
https://deldot.gov/About/news/index.shtml?dc=release&id=9399&type=TrafficAnd here is the first detour mentioned above:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44895902Nathan
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