Court Street & Union Street Reconstruction Project

Neighborhood meeting held on Sept. 21

Engineering staff from the City of Dover’s Community Services held a neighborhood meeting about its updated design plans on Sept. 21, 2023, at the Facilities, Grounds and Cemetery office at 145 Court St.

At the meeting, staff from the city and Wright-Pierce, the contracted design consultant, presented its updated project design, including feedback gathered from the first neighborhood meeting on July 16, 2022, and a subsequent online poll.

Neighborhood meeting presentations slides – Sept. 21, 2023

The design elements include roadway improvements, including adding sidewalks and bike lanes, and utility improvements, such as replacing the water main and improving drainage and sewer mains.

Project designs are currently 90% complete and are anticipated to be finalized by the end December. Once plans are finalized, the project would go out to bid, estimated to occur in January 2024, with construction to begin that spring. The project is expected to take two years to complete.

The next neighborhood meeting will be a pre-construction meeting, anticipated to occur in the spring of 2024.

Initial Concept Plans

Engineers created initial concept plans for the Court Street and Union Street project. Based on feed back from the July 13, 2022 neighborhood meeting and subsequent poll, the preferred concepts were incorporated into the design.

Court Street Option #1: Bicycle lanes without on-street parking

Court Street Option #2: Shared Lane Markings ("Sharrows") with on street-parking

Note: Shared lane markings, or sharrows, are painted in travel lanes where bicycles and cars share the roads. The markings remind motorists to expect to see bicyclists and remind bicyclists where to ride on the road. The placement of the sharrows in the lane keeps cyclists from riding too close to parked cars, where car doors may open unexpectedly.

Union Street Concept

Union Street design concept

About the Project

The City of Dover has targeted Court Street and Union Street for street reconstruction to upgrade underground utilities and address drainage concerns and roadway/sidewalk conditions. The city has been planning for the project through six-year Capital Improvements Program the City Council adopts each fall.

The reconstruction project will follow the City of Dover's Complete Streets and Traffic Calming Guidelines, including extending Court Street's sidewalk from South Pine Street to Hubbard Road. Engineers will also evaluate the intersection of Back Road/Court Street/Middle Road to identify opportunities to increase motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians' safety.

Survey work began in Summer 2021 and has included geotechnical borings to investigate subsurface conditions within the project area, video inspection of the existing stormwater drain, sewer main and sewer services and creating a base survey. The goal is to have engineer design plans developed through the year with construction to begin in 2023.

Email updates

As the project develops, the City of Dover plans regular email updates to help residents and business plans for the construction disruption. To sign-up for these updates, visit https://bit.ly/dovernewsletters, add “Project update: Court Street and Union Street Reconstruction” to your current email subscription list.

Recent email updates:

July 6, 2022