By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–The Cross Highway bridge over Deadman Brook is scheduled to be replaced with a wider span this summer, a year after the project was originally planned.

Part of a broader plan to improve safety in the accident-prone corridor, the project advanced this week when the Board of Selectman approved the hiring of FGB Construction Inc., to replace the bridge for $1,572,096. The state granted the town one million dollars to defray the costs of the replacement in May 2025.

Town Engineer Keith Wilberg told the board at its Wednesday meeting that the project was delayed because an earlier contract for pre-cast concrete elements took longer than expected, needing 10 to 12 months for delivery. 

The department scheduled the replacement for July and August, when school is out of session, but Wilberg and DPW Director Peter Ratkiewich said they did not expect the work to take the entire two months.

“I anticipate that this will be done long before that,” Ratkiewich said. 

Last year, Westport received a $1 million stage infrastructure grant for the project. The Cross Highway bridge replacement is part of the town’s broader reconstruction of the accident-prone corridor. Built in 1930, the span has been rated as “substandard” by the state’s Department of Transportation. It is only 25 feet wide, edged by stone parapets, with no space for sidewalks. Pedestrians cross along the edges of the travel lanes on the busy, two-lane street.

The new span will solve that issue with a five-foot-wide sidewalk and a total width of 37 feet. 

Wilberg and Ratkiewich said they have been talking with neighbors about the plan, and will continue to do so. They will notify Cross Highway residents from North Avenue to Bayberry Lane. Public works officials also will stay in contact with the Board of Education, they said.

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.}}