Yes, a tunnel was proposed for the Delaware River. Why did it never happen?

Michael Morgan
| Specially for The Daily Times

When the last concrete was poured on DuPont Boulevard in 1923, southern Delaware motorists were freed from the tyranny of railroad schedules as they traveled from Selbyville to Wilmington. In Delaware’s largest city, motorists were hampered by the Delaware River. They had to turn north onto the narrow streets of Philadelphia and take one of the bridges to cross the river.

Delaware’s roads were terrible until the transformation of DuPont Boulevard

Bays and rivers were once considered highways. Traveling by boat was considered the most comfortable and fastest way to travel until the railroads arrived in the early decades of the 19th century. Trains offered fast and comfortable travel, but passengers were bound by ironclad railroad schedules that dictated when travelers departed and arrived.

At the dawn of the 20^e century, horseless carriages began to appear on Delaware’s roads. The new machines allowed motorists to ride wherever and whenever they wanted.

The roads in Delaware were terrible at the time, and it took decades for them to improve. T. Coleman du Pont’s gift to the state of DuPont Boulevard, a paved highway from one end of the state to the other, allowed motorists to travel the entire state in a few hours, ending in Wilmington, where they met the Delaware River.

On February 22, 1937, tunneling expert John Meigs, chief engineer of the Wilmington-Deepwater Tunnel Company, addressed the Milford Rotary Club and extolled the virtues of a tunnel under the Delaware River in the Wilmington area. As reported by the Milford Chronicle, he explained: “The river portion of the tunnel will be a round cylinder, 31 feet outside diameter, built piece by piece on the site of round iron segments and lined with concrete. It will accommodate a two-lane, two-way road with a service path on one side,” he said.

There would be a mile and a half of lanes separated by a wide raised guardrail, which would reduce the chance of accidents. Meigs pointed out that most tunnels were built in urban areas, requiring expensive land purchases, but his proposed tunnel would start in a cornfield and end in a swamp. There were no buildings within a hundred yards of either tunnel entrance.

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An Economic Boon for Sussex County? Not to be

In 1937, Sussex County and the rest of Delaware were mired in the Great Depression, and Meigs told the Rotary Club, “One-third of the $10,000,000 cost of the project will be paid in wages, much of which will be immediately put into circulation in Delaware.” He also indicated that much of the material used to build the tunnel would be purchased from Delaware companies.

Meigs claimed that the tunnel would increase traffic flow far into Sussex County, resulting in an economic boost for that part of the state. He said, “This increase of prosperous automobile traffic through the lower counties of Delaware will leave a large amount of money behind!”

When the Wilmington-Deepwater Tunnel Company applied to the Delaware Legislature for permission to build the tunnel, the company encountered considerable opposition. The Smyrna Times reported on April 1, 1937: “Sentiment in the Legislature is divided over the tunnel bill and its fate is in doubt … opponents claim that Delaware is not yet ready for a project of this magnitude, which they believe will be a burden.”

Without legislative support, the tunnel project died a quick death. All proposed crossings of the Delaware River were shelved during World War II. Delaware motorists were left without an easy way to cross the river until the Delaware Memorial Bridge at New Castle opened in 1951.

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