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AUGUST 18, 2023
THE LOCAL VOICE OF YOUR COMMUNITY.
DelDOT presents bridge update
Volume 20, Issue 33
FREE
Finding the joy in sharing
By Kerin Magill Staff Reporter The start of construction on the bridge over the Assawoman Bay on Route 54 is more than a year away, but area residents are weighing in on the project — both the look of the bridge and the actual construction. Dozens of people turned out on Tuesday, Aug. 15, for a workshop on the project hosted by the state Department of Transportation at the Roxana Volunteer Fire Company’s fire hall. During a presentation on the project, residents were told that two-way traffic will be maintained throughout the construction of the new bridge and that all local businesses will be able to remain open throughout the project, which will begin in October 2024. The construction of the 484-foot-long bridge will be completed in two phases. The first one will end in May 2025; the second one will commence in October 2025 and end in May 2026. The impact on marine traffic will be minimal, officials said, and since there will be fewer trestles underneath, impact See BRIDGE page 3
Officials talk WRDA and parking passes Coastal Point • Kerin Magill
By Mike Smith Staff Reporter
Meghan Kingsley chose a cutting garden as a way to spread joy to others she has met in her new hometown.
South Bethany will apply for Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) funding to review town flooding and the canal bulkhead system, officials said at a town council meeting last week. The 2022 WRDA bill sponsored by outgoing U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (DDel.) authorizes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to carry out activities concerning water resources development projects, ecosystem restoration, flood control, water supply and wastewater infrastructure, or navigation. “Sen. Carper actually asked us for the See COUNCIL page 4
By Kerin Magill Staff Reporter From a small garden in her Ocean View yard, Meghan Kingsley found a way to spread joy and overcome barriers. The connections she has made through sharing the flowers she has grown are apparent in Kingsley’s Instagram page, @oceanviewflorals. What is not apparent is just how much Kingsley has had to overcome, and continues to do so, to be able to make those connections. When she moved into her Ocean View home about a year ago, she said, she felt a bit lost. In addition to adjusting to a new hometown, Kingsley was adapting to another major change: about the same time she moved to Ocean View, she lost her hearing.
The loss wasn’t entirely unexpected, Kingsley said. She had been diagnosed with neurofibromatosis Type 2 as a young teen. The disease causes benign tumors to grow throughout the body, attacking nerves. Auditory nerves are among the area of the body most frequently affected. “I had been told that you lose it at some point,” she said. “Over time, that nerve becomes damaged, and there’s not much you can do about it,” she said. Although she had experienced some hearing loss for years, deafness struck Kingsley overnight, she said in a recent interview. The loss, she said, was “bad timing,” in the midst of the move to Ocean View. She now communicates through a combination of sign language (which she learned
See KINGSLEY page 2