By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–Compo Road South is scheduled to get a new concrete sidewalk starting in a month or so, from just south of Post Road East to Bridge Street.

The Board of Selectmen approved the hiring of low bidder G. Pic & Sons Construction Co. for the $1.6 million job at today’s meeting in Town Hall. Town Engineer Keith Wilberg said that, with the approval, the construction will begin when the town pins down logistics and final details with the contractor.

“They’d like to get going as soon as possible,” he said. “So would we.”

A state Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program grant will pay for the project, which will run a uniform concrete sidewalk about 1.3 miles along the west side of Compo Road South. The strip is now a hodgepodge of crumbling walks and areas with no sidewalk.

The work is expected to take about 180 days once it starts, Wilberg said. Town staff will notify residents of properties whose hedges or other front yard features encroach on the strip where the sidewalk has been planned for about six years, the engineer said.

It has taken years to get under way because of the intricacies of collaborating with the state, he said.

“This is the timeframe we sometimes deal with when we’re doing state projects,” Wilberg said. “I wish it were different, but that’s unfortunately where we (are).”

Ken Valenti

^{_{A career journalist and lifelong resident of the New York City region, Ken Valenti has enjoyed decades of reporting local, regional and national news in New York and Connecticut. Topics of special interest are development, the environment, Long Island Sound and transportation. When not reporting, he’s always on the lookout for the perfect coffee shop or used book sale.}}