Georgetown, Del., Sept. 29, 2009: Western Sussex County residents will have an opportunity in the next few weeks to offer their suggestions on a proposed scenic route that will showcase the area’s history and promote rural tourism.

The Western Sussex Scenic and Historic Byway Advisory Committee will hold three public hearings in October and November to take comments on a proposed route linking cultural sites in the western part of the county. The route designation would extend more than 22 miles in the area of the U.S. 13 corridor, snaking its way on existing back roads from Seaford to Bethel and Laurel.

The hearings will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, inside Seaford City Hall, 414 High St., in Seaford; 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, inside Laurel Town Hall, 201 Mechanic St., in Laurel; and at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, inside Bethel Town Hall, Main Street, in Bethel.

Sussex County is sponsoring the effort, a necessary step for an application to be made to the Delaware Department of Transportation, which must approve the byway designation. That application is expected to be submitted by early 2010. If approved, federal funds would be sough to help draft a corridor management plan, a document that would identify ways to link and draw attention to historical landmarks along the route.

For more information, contact County Historic Preservation Planner Dan Parsons at (302) 856-6138 or visit the Western Sussex Scenic and Historic Highway website.

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