First/Final Mile Network Development

This effort is designed develop a comprehensive statewide first/final mile roadway inventory to help further an understanding of the locations, their roles in the overall transportation system, and develop better transportation and land use practices to address first/final mile facilities in the State of Delaware.

2024 Update & Application of the First/Final Mile Freight Network

WILMAPCO is currently underway with an update of the first/final mile network. This effort will rerform a two-part analysis that addresses localized freight impacts around the New Castle County’s first/final mile freight connections:

Part 1: Perform a technical update to the 2021 first/final mile network as recommended in the 2022 Delaware State Freight Plan and will reassess the network criteria to incorporate any recent demographic, policy, data, or traffic conditions.

Part 2: Perform a technical review of the network versus relevant policy documents and other plans produced by DelDOT, WILMAPCO and New Castle County, capturing the guiding principles outlined in the original study to develop solutions to help manage/protect/accommodate conflict points between goods movement and other land uses.

2024 Update Meetings, Presentations and Other Development Materials
Presentation: Delmarva Winter Freight Meeting (December 2024) Presentation: BMC Goods Movement Task Force (March 2025) Presentation: WILMAPCO Council (May 2025)		Draft 2024 final mile network webmap (coming soon)

2021 Network Development Materials

2021 Network Document		Focus Group Meetings and Other Materials
2021 Final Report and Executive Summary Planning for Freight Related Development Summary and Checklist Working Paper #1: Identification of First/Final Mile Freight Network Working Paper #2: Delaware’s First/Final Mile Freight Needs and Issues		First/final mile network (Interactive map) Network GIS file Download and metadata Focus Group Meeting #2 (6/3/21) Presentation Focus Group Meeting #1 (1/7/21) Presentation

What is a First/Final Mile Road Network???

First/final mile roadways are critical elements of the freight transportation system because they link freight facilities with major corridors for regional and inter-state travel such as I-95, and US-13. Since first/final mile roadways serve as connectors to major corridors, they are often very short road segments along lower functionally-classified routes that also support multiple users including passenger vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians, and may not have been designed to easily accommodate truck traffic.

Some commonly-observed problems on first/final mile routes across the US and Delaware include:

Mobility Concerns	Safety Concerns	Road Conditions	Land Use Conflicts
Tight turns, tight lanes, low-clearance bridges, narrow shoulders Railroad crossings with poor clearance/geometry for trailers Circuitous (non-direct) routes to reach freight facilities from major highways	Prior truck-involved crashes Complaints about speeding, running stop signs, etc. Poor sight lines at intersections Overlap with major pedestrian crossings, sidewalks, or bicycle facilities	Connections with poor pavement quality or bridge condition Connections where heavy truck traffic is contributing to degradation of pavement or bridge condition, or infrastructure was not designed to handle weight of trucks	Prior complaints about noise or vibrations Prior complaints about air emissions Corridor intersection with residential areas Corridor adjacent to schools, hospitals, parks, etc… Corridor intersection with identified EJ areas

How important are they to our economy?

The first/final mile freight network is among the most misunderstood portions of transportation networks, even among industry professionals. Overall, these facilities are often lower functionally classified routes (i.e local or collectors) on which freight/passenger vehicle conflicts are more visible and a negative public perception of truck traffic may be much greater. These locations also tend to be near residential areas, so they can create a conflict between freight mobility and other users of the transportation system. These types conflicts can negatively impact the safe and efficient movement of freight.

Other Freight Links

2019 Interstate Truck Travel Time Reliability (Interactive Map)
Delaware Primary Freight Network (PFN) (Interactive Map)
2019 Delaware Freight Bottlenecks: (Interactive Map )
2019 Freight Bottlenecks and Improvements Summary (PDF: Updated 2/5/20)
2017 Delmarva Freight Plan Addendum

Sign up for Project Updates!

We welcome your feedback! If you have questions or comments or would like to sign up for project email updates, please email Dawn Voss at dvoss@wilmapco.org.
For any questions or comments, please email the project manager Dan Blevins at dblevins@wilmapco.org