2009 Environmental Excellence Awards

DelDOT and DNREC joined forces with New Castle County and multiple Federal agencies led by FHWA to implement contextsensitive solutions in response to the Glenville flood of 2003. Tropical Storm Henri and Hurricane Isabel flooded the community of Glenville, which lay in the 100-year floodplain of the Red Clay Creek. DelDOT, because of its knowledge, experience, and resource power, was chosen to lead the relocation effort for the residents living in the 145 homes affected by the flood. The project team found a creative and context-sensitive way to address the former location of these homes: the 57-acre area became the Glenville Wetland Mitigation Bank, created in conjunction with the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency. The mitigation bank consists of 46 acres of new and restored wetlands and habitat with a buffer area for the 30 residences that remain. After excavating over 300,000 cubic yards of soil to create this wetland bank, DelDOT and DNREC reused the soil to cap a brownfield site and create an expanded 55-acre Fox Point State Park along the Delaware River. The Federal, State, and local partnership produced context-sensitive strategies and saved approximately $3 million in Delaware tax dollars while providing a mitigation bank, flood mitigation, a functioning new park, and a revitalized housing community.

Project Contributors: