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Junction and Breakwater Trail
By spokesman | September 5, 2008
The Junction and Breakwater Trail (click here for map) is a rail trail that runs between Rehoboth and Lewes Delaware. The first 3.6 mile section opened in Dec 2004 and another few miles were added in 2007. It is now possible to ride the entire distance from Rehoboth to Lewes. Although nearby Route 1 is heavily developed, you would never know that you were near a developed area once you get on the trail. It is bordered by a mix of landscapes ranging from thick canopies of gigantic trees to rolling fields of farmland. During a recent ride, I saw several deer.
The trail surface is fine crushed stone and is 12 feet wide, narrowing to 8 feet at a restored railroad bridge at Holland Glade. I cycled the trail on my road bike and did not have any problems, although I understand that many people would prefer to be on a wider tire bicycle. Developers of the trail have taken the best segments of the old railroad bed and then created a route along beautiful wooded areas and across two recognized natural areas, Holland Glade and Wolf Glade. At one point you can see the towers of Cape Henlopen. If you bicycle the trail, be sure to also cycle Cape Henlopen park in Lewes. The park has a bike path (click here for map) that takes you by a restored submarine watch tower from WWII, the Great Dune Overlook and other scenic portions of the park. I am glad that the Junction and Breakwater trail has been completed. Several years ago, the state eliminated the shoulder/bicycle land on southbound portions of Route 1 in order to improve the flow of traffic towards beach destinations. This effectively cut off cyclists from riding safely between Rehoboth and Lewes. Now with the trail, there is an alternative to Route 1. There are several residential developments being built near the Rehoboth end of the trail, so trail use should grow significantly in the next few years.
The next improvement area will be the development of some feeder bike lanes at both the Lewes and Rehoboth trail heads. There are signs directing riders to the trail-head on the Rehoboth end. However in Lewes, there are currently no road signs for trail-head.
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Topics: Trails/Bike Routes |
September 7th, 2008 at 8:29 am
thanks for the tip! Our family usually goes down to Rehobeth when we go to the beach, so I’m positive that we’ll be riding the trail someday soon!