Delaware Route 71

Delaware Route 71
Route information
Maintained by DelDOT and USACE
Length	21.99 mi[1] (35.39 km)
Existed	1938[2]–present
Tourist routes	Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway
Major junctions
South end	US 13 near Townsend
Major intersections	DE 299 in Middletown US 301 Toll near Middletown DE 896 in Mount Pleasant DE 15 in Summit Bridge DE 896 near Summit Bridge DE 72 in Williamsburg DE 7 in Red Lion
North end	US 13 / DE 1 in Tybouts Corner
Location
Country	United States
State	Delaware
Counties	New Castle
Highway system
Delaware State Route System List Byways
← DE 62 → DE 72

Delaware Route 71 (DE 71) is a state highway in New Castle County, Delaware. The route runs from U.S. Route 13 (US 13) south of Townsend north to another intersection with US 13 in Tybouts Corner, traveling to the west of US 13 by way of Townsend, Middletown, and the Summit Bridge. The route runs concurrent with DE 896 from Mount Pleasant to just north of the Summit Bridge.

DE 71 was built as a state highway during the 1920s and 1930s. By 1938, the route was designated to run from US 13 south of Townsend north to US 13 in Tybouts Corner roughly along its present-day alignment. In the 1950s, DE 71 was rerouted to head to the Maryland border southwest of Middletown to connect to Maryland Route 71 (MD 71), with the former route south of Middletown becoming an extended DE 896. Between the 1950s and 1980s, DE 71 was signed with various alignments of US 301 and US 301S. In the 1980s, DE 71 was truncated to DE 896 in Summit Bridge before being extended back along its 1930s alignment to US 13 by the 1990s. The US 301 concurrency between Middletown and Summit Bridge was removed in 2019.