By Andy Brophy

WESTPORT–The future of the William F. Cribari Memorial Bridge remained publicly unknown Monday night, and some residents expressed frustration at the state Department of Transportation’s deadline for residents to submit comments on its plans for the bridge.

The DOT plans to publicly unveil its plans for the bridge, built in 1884 to take Bridge Street over the Saugatuck River, at 7 p.m. Thursday in Town Hall.

Initially, the DOT gave 24 hours for residents to react to its plans but recently extended the deadline to Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving.

Matthew Mandell, a District 1 Representative Town Meeting member, said the DOT has said they want residents’ comments but questioned what information the DOT has provided to which residents could respond.

“The 27th of November is not an acceptable date,” he said. He said a deadline in January would be better.

Mandell said the town needed to “change the paradigm on how this is going to be done.” Rather than the DOT “coming from on high” and telling Westport what it’s going to do, DOT and town officials ought to have a back-and-forth dialogue to work out a solution that’s good for Westport, he said.

“I think that’s the best way to move forward,” he said.

Wendy Batteau, RTM D-8, said it seemed clear the DOT is “coming on Thursday to tell us what they’re going to do.”

Valerie Seiling Jacobs, co-chairman of Save Westport Now, said she was “not willing to give DOT the benefit of the doubt anymore.”

Seiling said the original deadline for comments was Friday and is now the day after Thanksgiving.

“It’s ludicrous,” she said. “We don’t know what they’re going to say. How do we make comments on mitigation when we don’t know what they’re going to say?”

“I’m very, very frustrated by this whole process,” she said. “There is no meeting of the minds … between what we want and what they want to do.”

Residents seem most concerned with whether the DOT plans to repair or replace the historic wrought-iron bridge (many think the DOT wants to replace it,) whether large trucks will be able to leave Interstate 95 and traverse the new bridge when the highway is jammed with traffic, the design of the new bridge, how many properties could be subject to eminent domain for the project, and the impact of construction on their properties.

Werner Liepolt of Bridge Street said he asked for access to the 833 comments submitted by residents to the DOT since last March and “got absolutely no response.”

“One of the problems the public has on this is not being informed,” said Dara Lamb, co-founder of the Westport Alliance for Saugatuck. “The DOT has not been forthcoming at all with information.”

Melissa Levy, chairwoman of the RTM’s Transit Committee, which met Monday night and fielded these comments, said restricting tractor trailers from crossing the potential new Cribari Bridge could be separate from the bridge itself.

David Floyd, chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission, questioned whether the town could ban trucks on Greens Farms Road, which would make it impractical for trucks to cross a new Cribari Bridge. “If we control that, isn’t that our trump card?” he asked.

Levy said the town couldn’t ban all trucks and that “no thru trucks” applied to trucks that weren’t making stops in Westport. But she said a request preventing thru trucks on Greens Farms Road would have to be made by the Board of Selectmen, which serves as Westport’s Local Traffic Authority, to the Office of the State Traffic Administration.

Such a request hadn’t been discussed or voted on at a selectmen’s meeting.

Levy said an attempt to obtain a no thru trucks designation on Lyons Plains Road failed in 2024 and the most recent designation granted in Westport was in 1979.

Jacobs said 15 to 18 school bus stops are along a five-mile stretch of Greens Farms Road and that was “a critical point we need to make.”

“We are seriously increasing the risk for our children and pedestrians” if semi tractor trucks can cross a new Cribari Bridge and travel on Greens Farms Road, Jacobs said.

Joseph Carson, RTM D-7, said roads leading up to Bridge Street are too narrow for tractor trailers. He said highway roads are typically 12 to 14 feet wide with a four-foot shoulder while town roads are typically nine to 10 feet wide with almost no shoulder. “Will they consider the fact we do not have the roads to allow trucks to get here?” he asked.

The Transit Committee informally reaffirmed a “Sense of the Meeting” resolution adopted by the RTM on March 3 that called for a repaired or replaced Cribari Bridge “to maintain or evoke the historical design of the current structure,” that it be wide enough to include pedestrian and bike lanes, and that it have “a height restriction to ensure it will not provide access for semi tractor trucks.”

The committee’s document went on to add, “We believe that protecting surrounding residential streets and neighborhoods from increased truck traffic and other unintended transportation impacts should be an integral part of the planning process.

“We respectfully ask Governor Ned Lamont, CT DOT and the Federal Highway Administration to work collaboratively with Westport to incorporate these priorities into the project and provide a written response explaining how they will be addressed before final approvals.”

Batteau and Lamb suggested the environment and community health be included in the “Westport United – One Voice” statement.

Meanwhile, First Selectman Kevin Christie announced hours before the Transit Committee meeting the formation of a Cribari Bridge Advisory Committee with the following members: Paul Davis, Ward French, David Keeton, David Stone, Joe Strickland, Ian Warburg and Larry Weisman. French is the committee’s chairman, and Levy is a non-voting, ex-officio member.

In his announcement, Christie said the town “does not fund or control the Project.”

“The Committee shall not exercise authority over DOT or any federal or state agency, approve engineering or regulatory decisions, commit the Town to any Project alternative or expenditure, supersede the responsibilities of DOT or other governmental entities, or replace or direct the participation of consulting parties in the Section 106 process,” his announcement says.

Andy Brophy

Andy Brophy is an experienced Fairfield County journalist. Andy was a staff writer at The Connecticut Post for 10 years. He also wrote for the Norwalk Hour, Fairfield Minuteman, Fairfield Patch and weekly newspapers in Westport, Fairfield and Norwalk. When not reporting, Andy enjoys playing chess and listening to pianist Art Tatum. ^_.