Delaware Route 20 - History

History

What would become DE 20 was originally an unimproved county road in 1920, with the portion between Seaford and Concord under contract as a state highway. By 1924, the road was completed as a state highway from the Maryland border east to Concord. The portion of road between Concord and Hardscrabble was proposed as a state highway by 1925. By 1931, the state highway was extended from Concord to Hardscrabble. A portion of what would become DE 20 west of Millsboro was completed as a state highway by 1932. When Delaware assigned numbers to its state highways by 1936, DE 20 was designated to run from the Maryland border in Reliance east to US 113 in Millsboro, following its current alignment to Seaford before heading south along what was then US 13 (Front Street) to Blades, where it turned east and picked up its current alignment to Millsboro. By 1970, the Norman Eskridge Highway was built between Front Street and US 13 in Seaford, and DE 20 was moved to its current alignment bypassing Seaford and Blades to the north and northeast along the Norman Eskridge Highway and US 13. The route was extended to DE 1 in Fenwick Island by 1994, following its current alignment between Millsboro and DE 54 before overlapping with DE 54 (Lighthouse Road) for the easternmost portion of the route. In 2005, DE 20 was removed from the DE 54 concurrency after it determined unnecessary for there to be two route numbers for that stretch of road.