vehicles. There is no available estimate of the obviously higher workday average.

DelDOT is under pressure to enlarge the bridge from its present two lanes to four to eliminate one of two bottlenecks remaining on Route 141 in order to accommodate the Astra Zeneca Inc. and Du Pont Co. Experimental Station expansions. The bridge links Barley Mill Road with Powder Mill Road, two of the principal approaches to the new corporate facilities.

The other 141 bottleneck – Ferris and Centre Roads between Prices Corner and Lancaster Pike – is not addressed in any current DelDOT plan.

Williams said there apparently are two viable options – tear down the present McConnell Bridge and replace it with a bigger structure, or add two lanes to the present structure. In either event, six lanes – the original DelDOT proposal – are out for the time being, but whatever is built now has to be expandable to that width some time in the indefinite future, he said.

He said a bi-level bridge is unlikely because of cost, the amount of ground its approaches would consume and engineering considerations, but he did not reject that idea totally. "We’re not eliminating any possibility so long as it doesn’t bust the budget," he said.

The advisory committee will reopen the old question of how to fit the bridge in without violating historical and environmental sensibilities.

The span crosses the Brandywine just south of Hagley Mills. Apparently not being considered a factor in the bridge planning process getting underway is the fact that Du Pont will be observing the bicentennial of its founding during 2002, the construction summer. The company built its first black powder mills at Hagley, which is now a museum and historic attraction.

It must be anchored to the steep east bank of the creek valley and many area residents are adamant that it does not disturb wooded areas or the tranquility of the valley at that point.

Du Pont also has maintained that dislocating the present Experimental Station fence would constitute a major hardship because the company’s federal Environmental Protection Agency air pollution permits are based on that alignment.

"This is probably the most sensitive project we have ever done," Williams said.

While not saying so in so many words, the previous advisory committee – many of whose members will be invited to be on the new one – seemed to conclude that it couldn’t be done.

Idea of the contest – a competition among engineering and design firms – is to remove esthetic considerations from the debate. At the same time, it is reasoned that approach will result in a design compatible with the area.

A "panel of experts" will determine the winning design, Williams said. The prize will be the contract to produce plans and manage construction.

"Normally, we put out the [specifications] in great detail and tell the contractor what to build. This time, we’re going to let them tell us what we should build," he said.

The closest the agency has come to that was in the construction of the sate Route 1 bridge over the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. In that case, DelDOT paid for two complete designs. The one chosen and built has since won several professional awards.