Delaware Roads - Bus. US 13



There are many Business US 13's in Delaware, and a couple that no longer exist. They're basically wherever you find an older alignment of US 13. The longest stretch of old 13, Bi State Boulevard through Seaford and Laurel to Delmar, may not be Business 13 anymore, but it almost doubtlessly once was. Current Business 13's include Main Street in Bridgeville (where the shield atop this page is from), Upper King Road through Woodside and Camden, Governors Avenue in Dover, and Market St./Philadelphia Pike from Wilmington north to Claymont. There is one Alternate US 13 sign for the Bridgeville section, seen from DE 404 westbound at US 13 south of town.


Current or former Business 13, Bi State Boulevard, north of town. Since I'm not sure of the status, I may as well keep the photo here.


Southbound on Bi State Boulevard, the first photo is in Seaford, and is horribly wrong - remove the "WEST" and the "TRUCK" (to the right used to be EAST TRUCK DE 20, but the mainline was since rerouted from Concord Road to the newer Stein Highway extension). The scond photo tells the location of the third photo.


Maybe-Business 13 southbound at the Maryland state line and DE/MD 54. Everything on the Maryland side of 54 is MD 54, and everything on the Delaware side is DE 54, but as you can see on the 54 page (linked at bottom), signs tend to mix the two, and it doesn't always skew in Maryland's favor.


Northbound in Bridgeville, the only business route concurrency in Delaware breaks up. The 404 shield uses an older cut-corner font, and this may be a remnant of the Business 13/DE 404 duplex (the Business banner looks newer than the rest of the assembly). I highly doubt the US 13 trailblazer in the background was ever intended to be a reassurance marker - i.e., it is not an error, but a guide for Business Route travelers.


The only representative on this page of the Dover business route. It's embossed.


The southern end of the Wilmington business route - nothing odd here, just some slightly older shields. The road ahead leads to DE 9, but has no route designation. Interestingly, the Dupont Highway has already begun out of Business 13 (that tells you it was plain 13 for quite awhile), meaning that all the southbound traffic should have disappeared by these signs.


The first sign, King St./MLK Jr. Blvd. at Market St., is somewhat older but probably is more of a trailblazer than a reassurance (I'll explain again - trailblazer = you're not on the route yet). The second sign, just after you make that left at DE 48 EB, is a shoddy construction job made of wood, as are all of the other signs on the pole, but they've remained after whatever project they belonged to. Wood doesn't weather very well. I don't know why trucks had to follow Business 13 instead of regular 13, but a sign saying "follow Business 13" would have done more good than this.


Just north of those photos, this very old state property sign (with a tiny sign below it depicting your car being towed) is on the southwest corner of 2nd St. (DE 48 WB) and King St. (Business 13 SB).


This is 10th St. WB at Walnut St., Business US 13 NB. DE 52 begins at 12th St., so the second sign is incorrect. Plus the first shield is older.


The best sign on this page isn't on or at Business US 13. It's on 14th St. WB at French St., which appears to never have been US 13 or Business 13. As far as I can tell, it was always on Market St. before moving to King St. It might possibly have been considered a downtown bypass when French was still a through street. Click for closeup.


Bus. US 13 NB follows 16th St. WB to continue north from its one-way pair on Walnut St.


I like when my photos write their own captions. The plaque doesn't mention the recent rehab of the bridge, though - it looks too beautiful to date to 1928, doesn't it?


Just north of the bridge and SB, a New Castle County embossed sign.


Northbound, north of DE 202 (US 202 used to end at US 13 there, and it still ends at 13, but now in a completely different location). In light of the other signs on this page, I am more forgiving than I once was, and willing to accept that this may just be only a trailblazer to 13, though the shield itself could have been born at a time when the Philadelphia Pike here was still US 13.

Onto regular US 13

Onto DE/MD 54
Onto DE 404
To DE 52
Into Brandywine Park
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