By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–First Selectman Kevin Christie announced today that he is forming an advisory committee to support the town in discussions with the state over the future of the William F. Cribari Bridge.

The Cribari Bridge Advisory Committee will make recommendations to Christie, helping to hone the town’s input in the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s plans to either rehabilitate or replace the 142-year-old bridge.

“The Advisory Committee will bring together technical expertise and community perspectives to help keep Westport’s input grounded in facts and reflective of community priorities,” Christie said in a release. “It will evaluate options for the bridge, including structural and design considerations, in the context of community impact, funding implications, and long-term maintenance responsibilities.”

The release says further details, including the members, will be announced “as they are finalized.”

Westport Journal has emailed Christie this afternoon to ask whether people can apply to be on the committee, what he is looking for in committee members and whether he has a time frame for establishing the panel. He has not yet responded.

Representative Town Meeting (RTM) member Matthew Mandell, District 1, who spearheaded the idea of forming such a committee in February, praised Christie for the announcement.

“This is exactly what was needed and I appreciate the first selectmen putting this committee together,” he said. “I look forward to them and the DOT sitting down and coming up with a solution that works for the state and the residents of the community.”

RTM Districts 1, 4 and 9 held a Feb. 24 meeting to discuss forming a committee to strengthen the town’s position. During that meeting, which was open to all, RTM moderator Jeff Wieser and Selectman Don O’Day, said such a committee should be organized by the first selectman.

At a March 4 meeting, the full RTM met and adopted a “sense of the meeting.” That resolution stated, in part, that “Any upgrade should at a minimum maintain or evoke the historic design of the current structure. . . . The finished structure should be wide enough to include pedestrian and bike lanes and a height restriction to ensure that it will not provide access for semi tractor trucks.”

The DOT has considered the bridge to be deficient since 2016. Slides shown at a March 19 hearing included shots of two piers that are suffering from extensive spalling – deterioration in the concrete – and exposed rebar.

The DOT’s preferred option is to replace the bridge that carries Connecticut Route 136 – Bridge Street – over the Saugatuck River. But DOT officials have said repeatedly that no decision has been made. A new bridge on the same alignment as the current one would cost $78 million to $86 million, the DOT projects.

Some 300 residents attended a March 19 hearing, which the DOT held in Westport Town Hall. Some residents want the 1884 bridge to remain because of the character it gives the area. It is a National Historic Landmark and part of the Bridge Street Historic District.

While others were willing to accept a new bridge in its place, one clear message was that many residents wanted tractor-trailer trucks to be prohibited from crossing the span, whether it is renovated or replaced. The same sentiment came from the RTM at its March 3 meeting. Members voted 20-1, with four abstentions, that 18-wheelers should be barred from the span. They fear that heavy commercial traffic would mar the quality of life and create safety problems, while the vibrations could damage historic homes.

In a recent email exchange with Westport Journal, Christie declined to take a position on whether 18-wheelers should cross the bridge.

“Truck traffic has been an ongoing concern,” Christie wrote to the Westport Journal. “There are different perspectives on how that can be addressed, and what the implications are for traffic, safety, and the surrounding neighborhoods.”

The DOT continues to take public input on the project. The public comment period on the agency’s environmental assessment of the project is open through April 17. 

Comments can be submitted online at the DOT comment portal, by email to James.Barrows@ct.gov, or by mail to ATTN: James Barrows, P.O. Box 317546, Newington CT 06131-7546. Reference Project No. 0158-0214.

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.}}