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Stretching from Rogers Road to Memorial Drive, the Route 9 corridor near New Castle is home to roughly 16,500 residents spread across a dozen neighborhoods that line both the east and west sides of the highway. On any given day, a large number of tractor-trailers, many heading to or from the Port of Wilmington, rumble past modest homes, churches, corner stores and clusters of children waiting for school buses near the edge of the road.
The corridor has long been described as a place full of pride and history — a haven for Black families displaced from Wilmington in the 1960s who sought stability, first homes and opportunity. Yet, decades of industrial zoning, flooding and disinvestment have left visible scars…