Maryland Route54 (MD54) and Delaware Route54 (DE54) are adjoining state highways in the U.S. states of Maryland and Delaware. Route54 runs from MD 313 in Mardela Springs, Maryland, east to DE 1 in Fenwick Island, Delaware. In addition to two segments in which the highway is completely in Delaware and two segments in which the highway is completely in Maryland, Route54 follows the Delaware/Maryland state line between the twin towns of Delmar, Maryland, and Delmar, Delaware, and the highway's intersection with MD 353 and DE 26. One section of the state line portion of Route54 is maintained by the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) while three sections of the highway that follow the state line are maintained by the Maryland State Highway Administration (MDSHA).

Route54 was first numbered in two segments in Wicomico County, Maryland, in the late 1930s. MD467 was assigned to the segment around Mardela Springs while MD455 was assigned to the state line road near Delmar. The Delaware portions of the highway remained unnumbered until the late 1960s, when DelDOT briefly assigned DE32 to the highway along the southern edge of Sussex County before designating it DE54. The Maryland State Roads Commission (now MDSHA) immediately reciprocated by designating its portions MD54. Route54 east of Selbyville has become an important route for seasonal beach traffic headed to and from Fenwick Island and Ocean City, with suburban development lining the road between DE 20 and the eastern terminus. DelDOT has signed DE 54 Alternate (DE54 Alt.) as an alternate route to the beaches. Improvements have been made to the route west of Fenwick Island, including building a causeway to reduce flooding and adding a center left-turn lane.

Route description

Route54 begins at an intersection with MD 313 in the town of Mardela Springs in Wicomico County, Maryland. MD313 heads north from the intersection as Sharptown Road and west as a short continuation of Delmar Road west to MD313's terminus with U.S. Route 50 (US50, Ocean Gateway). Route54 heads east as two-lane undivided Delmar Road, passing south of Mardela Middle and High School. The road parallels Barren Creek on the north toward the Delaware state line, crossing Mockingbird Creek. After passing the stone marker indicating the intersection of the Transpeninsular Line with the southern end of the Mason–Dixon line, the highway enters the southwest corner of Sussex County, Delaware, where it intersects Columbia Road at Packing House Corner. Route54 continues east until Old Racetrack Road, where the highway turns southeast toward the state line. At the intersection with Waller Road, the state highway begins to follow the state line, with Sussex County, Delaware on the north side of the road and Wicomico County, Maryland on the south, and MDSHA maintenance begins. Route54 immediately enters the twin towns of Delmar, Delaware, and Delmar, Maryland, and the highway's name changes to West State Street. The highway crosses the Delmarva Central Railroad's Delmarva Subdivision track at-grade south of Highball Signal, where the name changes to East State Street, and meets MD 675 (Bi-State Boulevard), the old alignment of US 13, in the center of the towns. Route 54 continues east and becomes West Line Road before it intersects US13, which is known as Sussex Highway in Delaware and Ocean Highway in Maryland. At US13, the highway leaves Delmar and DelDOT assumes maintenance for the highway.

Route54 continues east from US13 as East Line Road through farmland and scattered residences along the state line. At Brittingham Road, maintenance jurisdiction returns to MDSHA. Around the intersection with Whitesville Road, Route54 dips into Maryland for a short distance, then returns to following the state line until the intersection with MD 353 (Gumboro Road) and DE 26 (Millsboro Highway). At that intersection, Route54 turns northeast and joins DE26 in a concurrency. From this point, the highway remains in Delaware. A short distance north of the state line, the road intersects Whitesville Road. In Gumboro, DE26 continues north while Route54 turns east onto Cypress Road. Route54 crosses Bald Cypress Branch and the Pocomoke River, then passes through the Great Cypress Swamp. After crossing the swamp, the highway intersects US 113 (Dupont Boulevard) on the west edge of the town of Selbyville.

Route54 continues east into Selbyville as Cemetery Road and crosses the Snow Hill Line of the Maryland and Delaware Railroad at-grade. The highway turns south into Main Street to pass through the central business district. After intersecting the southern terminus of DE 17 (Bethany Road), Route54 turns east onto Lighthouse Road. In the hamlet of Bunting, the highway intersects DE 54 Alt. (Bunting Road), an alternate route from Selbyville to the town of Bethany Beach. Route54 passes through Williamsville and begins to pass beach-related suburban development as the highway crosses Drum Creek and Roy Creek before intersecting the east end of DE 20 (Zion Church Road). Past this intersection, the route gains a center left-turn lane and continues past more development. As the highway approaches the town of Fenwick Island, it becomes two lanes again and crosses two tidal ponds on an elevated causeway before it crosses The Ditch between Assawoman Bay to the south and Little Assawoman Bay to the north. After passing to the north of the Fenwick Island Light, Route54 reaches its eastern terminus at DE 1 (Coastal Highway) in Fenwick Island, one block west of the Atlantic Ocean and one block north of the town of Ocean City on the other side of the state line.

The section of Route54 east of US113 in Selbyville serves as a main route to Fenwick Island and sees congestion in the summer months. Route54 east of US113 also serves as part of a primary hurricane evacuation route from the Fenwick Island area to points inland while the section of Route54 between US13 and US113 serves as part of a secondary hurricane evacuation route from the coastal areas. Route54 has an annual average daily traffic count ranging from a high of 15,984vehicles at the Old Stage Road intersection in Delmar to a low of 812vehicles at the Cemetery Road intersection west of Selbyville.

History

By 1920, what is now Route54 in Delaware existed as an unpaved county road. The portion of the current route along Millsboro Highway was proposed as a state highway by 1925. This segment of state highway was completed by 1931, along with the portions from south of Columbia to a point along the state line to the east of Delmar and between Selbyville and Williamsville. A portion of the route along the state line east of Delmar was paved as a county road. On July 1, 1935, the county-maintained portions of the road in Delaware were taken over by the state. By 1936, the roadway was paved between Williamsville and Fenwick Island. A portion of road to the west of Selbyville was paved by 1939. By 1942, the remainder of the road in Delaware between the Maryland border and south of Columbia and Gumboro and Selbyville were paved.

The first non-concurrent portions of Route54 to be numbered were in Maryland in 1939, when MD467 was marked on the portion around Mardela Springs and MD455 was marked on the portion around Delmar, which extended from where Waller Road fully enters Maryland east to Brittingham Road. The portion of road between Brittingham Road and MD353 was county-maintained. MD455 was extended east from Brittingham Road to DE26/MD353 in 1958. In 1968, DE32 was assigned to the entire highway within Delaware; the Maryland sections were still marked as MD467 and MD455. The whole highway was marked as Route54 in 1969. In addition to the concurrency with DE26, Route54 has been concurrent with DE20 and DE 30. DE20 was extended east of Dagsboro to terminate in Fenwick Island along with Route54 by 1994. DE20's eastern terminus was rolled back to its present location in 2005. Despite this, some DE20 shields are posted along Route54 between that route's eastern terminus and Fenwick Island. DE30 was designated concurrent with Route54 along Millsboro Highway north of Whitesville Road in 1994. The DE30 designation was removed from this section of road in 2022.

In September2001, construction began to build an elevated causeway for Route54 to the west of Fenwick Island in order to prevent flooding from high tides and storms. The project involved building the new causeway to the north of the original alignment, using pre-cast concrete segments. The project, which cost over $15million, was slated to be finished in August2003. In 2010, a $10 million project began to add a center left-turn lane along with bike lanes and sidewalks to the portion of Route54 between DE20 and Mallard Lakes, a section of road that was targeted for safety improvements due to rapid development; this project was completed in 2012.

Major intersections

DE54 officially has a length of and MD54 officially has a length of . Both of these figures include a overlap between the first and last crossings of the state line.

Delaware Route 54 Alternate

Delaware Route54 Alternate (DE54 Alt.) is an unsigned alternate route of DE54 between Bunting and DE26 in the town of Bethany Beach. The alternate route heads northeast from DE54 on two-lane undivided Johnson Road, passing through a mix of farmland and woodland and crossing Dirickson Creek. Upon crossing DE20, DE54 Alt. continues north along Bayard Road through more rural areas, crossing Bearhole Ditch and passing through the community of Bayard. The route turns east onto Double Bridges Road and continues northeast through forested areas along with a few residential subdivisions, passing north of the Assawoman Wildlife Area. DE54 Alt. turns east onto Kent Avenue and crosses the Assawoman Canal, where it curves north and passes residential development before ending at DE26 at Bethany Beach. DE54 Alt. was designated by 2006.

Major intersections

See also

Notes

References

External links

• DE

• MD

• Delaware/Maryland Roads - DE/MD