Delaware Route 17 (DE 17) is a two-lane undivided
state highway
A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...
located in
Sussex County,
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...
. The route runs in a northeast-southwest direction between
DE 54 in
Selbyville and
DE 26 west of
Millville, crossing
DE 20 in
Roxana. It is called Bethany Road within Selbyville and Roxana Road for the remainder of its length. The route passes through rural areas of southeastern Sussex County. DE 17 serves to connect Selbyville with the
Bethany Beach area. The route was built as a state highway in the 1920s and received the DE 17 designation by 1938.
Route description
DE 17 begins at an intersection with
DE 54 in the town of
Selbyville, where it heads northeast on Bethany Road. The route is a two-lane undivided road that runs through flat areas of the
Atlantic coastal plain
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
its entire length. From the southern terminus, the road passes several homes before leaving Selbyville. At this point, DE 17 enters a mix of farmland and woodland with some homes. Here, the name of road becomes Roxana Road. Upon reaching the community of
Roxana, the roadway crosses
DE 20. After DE 20, the road continues through rural areas. Following a turn to the north, the route comes to its terminus at an intersection with
DE 26 to the west of the town of
Millville.
In 2016, DE 17 had an
annual average daily traffic
Annual average daily traffic (AADT) is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a year divided ...
count ranging from a high of 4,571 vehicles at the northern terminus at DE 26 to a low of 3,124 vehicles at the northern border of Selbyville.
[ The portion of DE 17 between Daisey Road and Peppers Corner Road serves as part of a ]hurricane evacuation route
Hurricane evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hurricane. County judges, emergency managers and other officials may recommend a voluntary evacuation or order a mandatory evacuati ...
from the coastal town of South Bethany, providing an alternate to DE 26 to the north.
History
By 1920, what is now DE 17 was under construction as an unnumbered paved state highway between Selbyville and Roxana, with a small section of paved state highway complete near Roxana. It was also designated as a state aid road, a road that was to receive funding from the state to be built as a state highway by the county, from Roxana north to Millville.
Major intersections
See also
*
References
External links
{{commons category
DE 17 at AARoads.com
017 017 may refer to:
* DOL-017, GameCube console
* '' Global Underground 017'', DJ mix album
* Road FC 017, 2014 Mixed Martial Arts event
* Swift 017.n, racing car
* Tyrrell 017, Formula One racing car
See also
* 17 (disambiguation)
Seventeen o ...
Transportation in Sussex County, Delaware