By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — The Planning and Zoning has endorsed a plan to replace the bridge that carries Old Road over Sasco Creek and into Fairfield.

The commission voted unanimously to give a positive recommendation to an 8-24 request presented by Town Engineer Keith Wilberg on behalf of First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker.

The existing span, built in 1965 and its deck rehabilitated in 2002, has been called structural deficient and functionally obsolete by the state Department of Transportation. It also has “scouring” at the abutments, meaning the water current is undermining the concrete base.

The structure is not deemed historically significant, and several town departments have expressed no concerns about the replacement. The Flood and Erosion Control Board and the Conservation Commission have approved the plan.

A Planning and Zoning Department staff report said, based on comments by Building Official Steve Smith, that because of safety issues, a review by the Historic District Commission was not needed for the aged structure.

“There is an exemption that basically says safety first,” Planning and Zoning Director Mary Young told the commission, noting inquiries on that point had been made informally. She said the Town Attorney’s Office agreed.

Wilberg said Westport is taking the lead on the $3 million project, rather than Fairfield. That town is going through the permitting process as well.

“DOT is recommending, and has been recommending for some time, full bridge replacement,” Wilberg told the commission on Monday. “It’s not worth repairing at this point — it needs to be replaced.”

Wilberg said it would be part of the “Design Managed by State” program, in which state engineers do the design work, rather than municipalities soliciting and paying outside engineers.

Under that DMS program, he said, “the DOT has one of its engineers design it from the start at no cost to the town.”

Wilberg said the existing bridge doesn’t line up well with the roads, and the redesign will fix that. “They are going to straighten out the bridge geometry,” he said.

The bridge, which is now 19 feet wide, will go to 27 feet wide, Wilberg said. The length will increase from 24 feet to 38 feet. It also will be 8 inches higher than the existing span, allowing better water flow at critical times.

“Right now, the way this bridge is, if we were to get a storm of 6 inches or 6½ inches of rain, water would come down Sasco Creek and overtop the bridge,” Wilberg said. “But they’re opening up the abutments underneath the bridge enough that should they get the same storm or even bigger, it’s designed so that should we get even 8 inches of rain, which I’ve never even seen here in the town, all the water would go under the bridge as opposed to over the top of the bridge.”

He said the plan is to begin construction in spring 2025 and finish by November.

Traffic will be detoured around the area using Bulkley Avenue, Post Road East and Hulls Highway.

Wilberg said the project’s cost will be covered 80 percent by federal funds, and 20 percent split by Westport and Fairfield. He said that the cost sharing formula, with Fairfield having a population about twice Westport’s, might mean that breaks down to 13 percent for Fairfield and 7 percent for Westport.

“I know this bridge very well, I used to play on it when I was young,” said commission member Patrizia Zucaro.

She asked Wilberg if the bridge would still be a steel grate, or concrete.

“It will be concrete,” Wilberg replied, saying the new span would have open rails on the sides, and stamped concrete made to look like stones.

She also asked about a walkway on the narrow bridge.

“This is a highly trafficked pedestrian area,” she said. “Mothers with strollers, kids on bikes, so is there a plan for some kind of walkway there? It’s been kind of unsafe in the past.”

“There is, and you’re absolutely correct,” Wilberg replied. “And, believe it or not, this is a bridge that actually occasionally, I have been told, has horse traffic.”

“There’s going to be two 12-foot lanes, so it’s going to be 24-foot wide whereas now it’s 16-foot wide,” he said. “That’s far more room than is there now, so even myself, as a pedestrian, I don’t know if I’d feel safe going over the bridge now, but I’d feel a lot safer with eight more feet there.”

Zucaro also wondered what to call it.

“When I was young it was the green bridge, then it was the red bridge and now it’s another kind of bridge,” she said.

After the vote, member Neil Cohn wondered if there could be a naming contest.

DOT convention appears to require bridge names be approved by the General Assembly. So, for now at least, the span over Sasco Creek will continue to be known by the warm and fuzzy name, “Bridge 04971.”

The project and its funding will still need approvals from the DOT, Army Corps of Engineers, and, on the Westport side of the creek, the Board of Selectwomen and town funding bodies.

Thane Grauel grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond for 36 years. Reach him at editor@westportjournal.com. Learn more about us here.