In 1931, DSHD began construction on the first bypass of Dover. Much of the bypass would use Bay Road, the existing highway from modern DE 8 (North Little Creek Road) in Dover to Kitts Hummock on Delaware Bay. The Dover–Kitts Hummock road had been completed as a concrete road in 1926. Two sections of new highway were planned from DE 8 to State Street north of downtown Dover and from the DuPont Highway in Little Heaven north to Bay Road at what is now DE 1's interchange with DE 9 (Bayside Drive) at the southern end of Dover Air Force Base. The new highway between Little Heaven and Bay Road would cross the St. Jones River at a site called Barkers Landing.