What We Heard in Addicks Estates
On Thursday, July 23, 18 neighbors from Addicks Estates had dinner together at Archmere Academy. Shelley McNulty hosted, and neighbors invited neighbors. Some moved into the neighborhood within the last few years while others have been in the same house for the last 60.
We asked three questions: what do you love about living here, what worries you, and what do you hope for.
What people love
Neighbors named each other first. People in the neighborhood are genuinely pleasant and welcoming. They loved their homes, and the location.
Several said the neighborhood is quiet. One neighbor said there is room to breathe.
What worries people
I-495 traffic came up again and again. And engine brakes — the loud rattling sound trucks make when they slow down using the engine instead of the wheel brakes. They tied the highway to a lot of their environmental and quality of life concerns: dust, and pollution in the air, water, and soil. Several also raised concerns about waste deposits from the steel mill.
One neighbor said:
"Can't enjoy my backyard."
Other worries were about the everyday running of the neighborhood. Snow and ice do not get plowed or cleared, and it becomes hard to get out. Cars speeding on Marion ave. Residents are not told when work nearby is going to affect their water or electric. The vacant train station parking lot sits empty, and neighbors expect dumping to start there.
What people hope for
A clean environment that is quiet and healthy. A supportive neighborhood. Neighbors looking out for each other, and keeping an eye on the elderly and the children. Peace of mind.
We keep coming back to that last one. What people described wanting is the ordinary use of their own homes and yards.
What we looked up afterward
I-495. DelDOT counted about 65,700 vehicles a day in 2025 on the stretch that runs alongside Marion Ave. We have not found any measurement of how loud it is where people live.
Delaware law already restricts engine braking. A motor vehicle on a Delaware road is not allowed to use a brake that works off the engine or the exhaust — what people call a Jake brake. That has been the law since 2008, and in 2016 the General Assembly went back and made it a moving violation that goes on a driver's record. A separate law from 2005 requires any commercial truck carrying an engine compression brake to have a working muffler, and sets a $500 fine.
The rules are on the books. We are asking the Delaware State Police how often they get enforced on this stretch.
The steel mill. Steel was made in Claymont from 1917 until the mill closed in 2013. A developer bought the 425-acre site in 2015 and took on responsibility for cleaning it up. PCBs have been found there, at levels high enough that EPA took oversight of part of the soil cleanup. The developer has said it remediated hot spots and is capping the slag left behind from steelmaking rather than hauling it away.
In July 2022, crews building the new train station hit buried drums while digging a stormwater basin. Some of them still held material inside. DNREC approved the removal that September and allowed soil meeting a commercial-use standard to be reused on the property. We are asking DNREC what was in those drums, and we will tell you what we learn.
What we are doing about it
Health testing and a health survey. Neighbors asked to be tested for heavy metals, and they want a record of what this neighborhood is living with in a form a health agency has to take seriously. Testing people takes a clinic or a health partner, and a plan for what happens once a result comes back. A survey has to be built well enough to hold up when an agency reads it. We do not have either arranged. We are working with residents here on how to get there and who we need to bring in, and August 21 starts with hearing what you want to know about your own health and your own block.
Engine brake noise. The law applies to every driver the same way, whether they drive for a large carrier or own their own truck. We are asking DelDOT whether this stretch and exit can be posted with signs, since signs reach every driver at once. We are also asking New Castle County Police what they are seeing on this corridor.
Drivers, we want to hear from you. A lot of truckers live in Claymont. If you run this route, come on August 21 and tell us what it looks like from the cab. We would rather understand why it happens here than guess at it.
How to report engine brake noise
This is the easiest way to help, and it takes about a minute.
Write down the date and the time. This matters more than anything else.
Record a few seconds on your phone. A voice memo stamps the time for you automatically.
Call New Castle County Police non-emergency at 302-573-2800. Say you are reporting truck engine brake noise and give them your street. Please do not call 911 — this is not an emergency.
Text the same date and time to us at (302) 468-6329.
Do both calls if you can. The police call puts it in an official record with a date on it. Ours builds the neighborhood picture we can carry to DelDOT and to Dover. Either one alone is weaker than the two together.
One call from one house is a complaint. Forty calls from twenty houses over two months is a pattern, and a pattern is something an agency has to answer.
The petition
Our petition asks EPA to test the former Allied Chemical property on Philadelphia Pike for radioactive contamination and clean up whatever is found.
The federal government's own records back this up. The Department of Energy and NIOSH list the Allied Chemical and Dye plant in North Claymont as an Atomic Weapons Employer. The plant produced uranium from the early 1950s into the late 1960s, and the same federal listing recognizes that radioactive material remained on the property until 1977. To this date, no radiological survey of that ground has taken place.
211 neighbors have signed. More than half live within a mile of the site.
August 21
We said we would come back before the end of August.
Friday, August 21, 6:00 PM. Archemere Academy. Dinner provided. Families welcome.
On the agenda: Honeywell and EPA, the health survey, where environmental and health testing stands, and how it went for folks who spoke with the reporter. We also want to hear whether the noise is worse on some streets than others.
Nothing about Addicks Estates without Addicks Estates residents.
Questions? Call or text (302) 468-6329.
