Fifth Street & Grove Street Reconstruction Project

Design plans near completion
Neighborhood meeting to be held Spring 2023

The City of Dover’s design engineering consultant for the Fifth and Grove reconstruction project is making final design plans that will be presented at a neighborhood meeting this spring. The final design plans include elements raised by stakeholders at the July 19, 2022 neighborhood meeting and subsequent survey.

A meeting date has yet to be set but is anticipated towards the end of April or the beginning of May. City engineers will schedule a date when it meets with the consultant, Woodward & Curran, later this month to review its plans and discuss the construction schedule.

Once design plans are finalized, expected by late spring, the project will be publicly advertised, seeking bids from qualified construction companies. After the bid deadline, city staff will review bid submissions and recommend to the City Council what construction firm to award the project to. Once the bid is awarded, the contractor and city staff will schedule a pre-construction neighborhood meeting. City staff anticipates construction to begin in either late 2023 or early 2024.

The Fifth and Grove reconstruction project includes upgrading underground utilities and addressing drainage concerns and roadway/sidewalk conditions.

Results from neighborhood survey

Following the July 19, 2022 neighborhood meeting, the city conducted a survey that included a question on whether Fifth Street should remain open to two-way traffic, which would eliminate 19 parking spaces, or make Fifth Street one-way, which would add eight parking spaces.

The majority of preferred one-way travel on Fifth Street, with the direction of travel from Chestnut Street to Fourth Street.

Engineers are currently evaluating the section of Grove Street within the project area for defined, marked parking spaces on both sides of the street, with two travel lanes marked with a double yellow centerline. This information will be presented at the neighborhood meeting later this spring.

About the project

The City of Dover has targeted Fifth Street and Grove Street for reconstruction to upgrade underground utilities and address drainage concerns and roadway/sidewalk conditions. 

The City of Dover is committed to a multi-modal approach to roadway design, particularly in urban residential areas. The City of Dover has tasked the design consultant to design the reconstruction project so that streets and sidewalks are safe and accessible for all users regardless of age, physical ability or mode of transport. To that end, the project will incorporate the City of Dover's Complete Streets & Traffic Calming Guidelines. The design consultant is evaluating utilities as part of creating its initial base survey of the project.  

Neighborhood held on July 19, 2022

Community Services hosted neighborhood meeting about the project on July 19 at the Community Services public works facility at 271 Mast Road. At the meeting, the city staff and the design consultant went over the project goals gathered insight and ideas from residents, businesses and community members. 

• Neighborhood meeting presentation slides

Email updates

As the project develops, the City of Dover plans regular email updates to help residents and business plans for the construction disruption. To sign-up for these updates, visit https://bit.ly/dovernewsletters, add “Project update: Fifth Street and Grove Street Reconstruction” to your current email subscription list. 

• March 20, 2023
• Aug. 9, 2022
• July 12, 2022
• April 15, 2022
• April 8, 2022

Map of project area

Project documents:

• City Council awards bid for design services - Jan. 19, 2022
• Request for proposal #B21048-RFP22-022: Design consulting services - Nov. 1, 2021
• Adopted Capital Improvements Program documents: FY2022 to FY2027
• Complete Streets and Traffic Calming Guidelines