Delaware Route 896 - Route Description

Route Description

DE 896 begins at an intersection with US 13 in Boyds Corner, heading west on two-lane undivided Boyds Corner Road. East of US 13, the road becomes unnumbered Pole Bridge Road and reaches an interchange with the DE 1 toll road. From the southern terminus, DE 896 passes through agricultural areas with some residential subdivisions and woods. The road crosses over Norfolk Southern's Delmarva Secondary railroad line and comes to an intersection with US 301/DE 71 in Mount Pleasant. Here, DE 896 turns north to form a concurrency with US 301/DE 71 on Summit Bridge Road, a four-lane divided highway. The road passes a few businesses before heading between the Summit Airport to the west and housing developments to the east. US 301/DE 71/DE 896 heads to the northwest through farm fields before turning to the west and passing a residential subdivision to the south. In the unincorporated community of Summit Bridge, the road intersects the northern terminus of DE 15. Past this intersection, US 301/DE 71/DE 896 turns north and crosses over the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal on the Summit Bridge.

Past the Summit Bridge, the road passes through woods and passes under Chesapeake City Road near the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery. DE 71 splits from US 301/DE 896 by heading to the southeast on Red Lion Road. US 301/DE 896 continues north between residential neighborhoods to the west and wooded Lums Pond State Park to the east. The road passes near more suburban homes with some fields before reaching Glasgow, where it curves northeast to bypass Glasgow to the east with DE 896 Bus. heading north into Glasgow. US 301/DE 896 curves northwest and intersects US 40, where US 301 comes to its northern terminus.

Following this intersection, DE 896 continues northwest as South College Avenue, coming to a southbound ramp that provides access to DE 896 Bus. at the north end of Glasgow. The road heads through industrial and commercial areas, passing near a few homes before intersecting Old Baltimore Pike. The route heads through wooded areas to the east of Iron Hill Park before reaching a modified cloverleaf interchange with I-95 (Delaware Turnpike). Past this interchange, DE 896 enters Newark and runs northwest past businesses, curving north and coming to an intersection with DE 2/DE 4.

At this point, DE 896 turns west to join DE 2/DE 4 on the four-lane divided Christiana Parkway, passing to the south of the former Newark Assembly plant used by Chrysler. The road narrows into a three-lane undivided road with two eastbound lanes and one westbound lane, curving to the northwest and coming to a bridge over Amtrak's Northeast Corridor railroad line. Christiana Parkway comes to an intersection with Elkton Road, where DE 4 ends, DE 2 turns southwest onto that road, and DE 2 Bus. and DE 896 continue northeast on Elkton Road. DE 2 Bus./DE 896 becomes a four-lane divided highway that heads into residential areas. The road becomes undivided as it passes businesses before reaching downtown Newark.

Here, DE 2 Bus./DE 896 intersects DE 273, with the road splitting into a one-way pair. Eastbound DE 2 Bus./northbound DE 896 heads concurrent with eastbound DE 273 on West Delaware Avenue, heading to the east, while westbound DE 2 Bus./southbound DE 896 remain along Elkton Road, also concurrent with eastbound DE 273. The one-way pair carries two lanes in each direction. Northbound DE 896 soon turns north onto two-way South College Avenue, which carries two northbound lanes and one southbound lane as it passes through the University of Delaware campus. The northbound direction of the route turns west (along westbound DE 2 Bus./DE 273 on West Main Street), reaching the head of Elkton Road, which it left earlier due to one-way streets. Here, northbound DE 896 continues northwest onto one-way New London Road, carrying one lane, while southbound DE 896 follows DE 273 on two-way, two-lane West Main Street. Soon after, both directions of the route crosses CSX's Philadelphia Subdivision railroad line as it leaves the downtown area and heads into residential neighborhoods. New London Road becomes two-way carrying both directions of DE 896, with southbound DE 896 heading southwest on two-way North Hillside Road to get to DE 273 and continue east. The two-lane undivided DE 896 heads northwest between the Newark Country Club to the west and the University of Delaware to the east before widening into a divided highway and passing a shopping center as it heads past more housing subdivisions. The route becomes undivided again as it leaves Newark and heads through less dense areas of residential development with some fields and woods, passing to the west of White Clay Creek State Park. DE 896 continues to its northern terminus at the Maryland border, where it briefly passes through the northeast corner of that state as MD 896 before heading north into Pennsylvania as PA 896.

DE 896 has an annual average daily traffic count ranging from a high of 48,750 vehicles at the I-95 interchange to a low of 4,605 vehicles at the intersection between New London Road and North Hillside Road. The portion of DE 896 south of US 40 is part of the National Highway System.