Shannon Taylor and her husband purchased their Bridge Street home in 2022, where they live with their 2 young children. Walks, stroller rides and scooter trips to Saugatuck restaurants and Luciano Park have made her aware of the neighborhood’s traffic and pedestrian safety challenges. These experiences inspired her to advocate for practical solutions that protect the families who live, walk and play in the area. She writes:
For years, Westport residents have debated the future of the historic Cribari Bridge. Should it be rehabilitated or replaced? How do we preserve its character, while ensuring it remains safe?
But beneath these disagreements, one concern has emerged with remarkable consistency: We do not want tractor-trailers using Bridge Street and the surrounding neighborhoods as an alternative to I-95.
I live on Bridge Street with my family. Like many neighbors, I worry about what happens if a reconstructed bridge makes our residential streets an attractive shortcut for heavy commercial traffic.
I am not opposed to necessary improvements to the bridge. But I am opposed to allowing my family’s safety, and the safety of our neighborhood, to depend entirely on the physical limitations of a 142-year-old structure.
Traffic is tight, on the Cribari Bridge.
As it turns out, Connecticut already has a process designed to address this exact concern. The Office of the State Traffic Administration can establish “No Through Trucks” restrictions on qualifying roads.
These restrictions can prohibit trucks from passing through a community while allowing vehicles with legitimate local destinations, including deliveries and moving trucks, to continue accessing the area. Most importantly, this process is separate from the decision to rehabilitate or replace the bridge.
State Department of Transportation project manager James Barrows II confirmed that a “No Through Trucks” restriction is an available option, and has already been discussed by the project team.
However, the project team cannot initiate the process itself. A formal request must come from Westport’s Local Traffic Authority, currently the Board of Selectpersons.
Once requested, OSTA would investigate roadway conditions, including width, curves, sight lines, traffic volumes and surrounding development, to determine whether a restriction is justified.
There is even local precedent: Portions of Route 136, including a section in Westport, already have approved “No Through Trucks” restrictions. Approval is certainly not guaranteed, but this seems like a reasonable path.
In 2019, Westport had an opportunity to pursue this exact solution. Instead, it chose to wait. At its February 13 meeting, the Board of Selectpersons considered authorizing then-1st Selectman Jim Marpe to request “No Through Trucks” restrictions for Bridge Street, Compo Road South and Greens Farms Road.
According to the meeting minutes, the board determined that pursuing the restriction was premature while the Cribari Bridge rehabilitation project was still ongoing. By a unanimous 3–0 vote, it tabled the discussion “until a date to be determined.”
Compo Road South, between Post Road and Greens Farms Road/Bridge Street (Photo/John Videler for Videler Photography)
That was nearly 8 years ago.
Since then the bridge debate has continued, proposals have evolved, and residents have repeatedly expressed the same concerns about heavy commercial traffic. Yet I recently received confirmation from OSTA that no formal request has been received for a restriction in this area.
In other words, we postponed a potential solution because we were still debating the bridge. And nearly 8 years later, we’re still debating the bridge.
It’s time to separate these 2 conversations.
With CTDOT preparing to present its selected bridge alternative on November 12 (7 p.m., Town Hall), this question feels particularly urgent.
At Monday evening’s RTM Transit Committee meeting, I raised this alternative and was encouraged by the response. Committee chair Melissa Levy and other RTM members expressed interest in examining how the town could pursue enforceable truck restrictions, rather than relying solely on bridge design.
The RTM has already demonstrated overwhelming agreement on this issue. In March 2026 members voted 20–1, with 4 abstentions, in favor of a resolution calling for improvements to the bridge, while maintaining a height restriction to prevent tractor-trailer access.
Cars were (very) briefly banned from the Cribari Bridge last month, during the Walk Bike Westport Bridge to Bridge ride.
That vote suggests something important: Even among residents and representatives who disagree about the bridge’s future, there is substantial common ground when it comes to keeping heavy through-truck traffic off our neighborhood streets.
A “No Through Trucks” designation would not resolve every concern about the bridge. It would not eliminate the need to consider preservation, environmental impacts, traffic circulation or pedestrian safety. Any restriction would also require a thoughtful enforcement plan. But it could address one of the most contentious issues independently of the bridge’s ultimate design.
We should not have to choose between a safe, functional bridge and safe residential streets.
I have written twice to First Selectman Christie and the Board of Selectpersons requesting clarification about the 2019 proposal, and asking whether the town would consider initiating an OSTA review. As of this writing, I have not received a response.
The Board of Selectpersons — currently Amy Wistreich, Kevin Christie and Don O’Day — serve as Westport’s Local Traffic Authority.
I appreciate the RTM’s willingness to examine this alternative. But ultimately, the authority to initiate the state review rests with the town’s Local Traffic Authority.
This is where Westport residents can make a difference.
If you believe our neighborhood streets should be protected from unnecessary heavy commercial traffic, ask 1st Selectman Christie and the Board of Selectpersons to revisit the proposal tabled in 2019, and formally request an OSTA investigation.
Contact your RTM representatives, too. Ask them to support this effort, and encourage town leadership to act. Whether you favor rehabilitation or replacement, historic preservation or modernization, this is an issue on which we can work together.
We are not asking the state to guarantee a particular outcome. We are asking our town leadership to initiate the process so the state can evaluate the merits, examine the traffic and safety data, and determine whether a restriction is warranted.
Let’s stop treating a structural height limitation as our only protection against heavy commercial traffic.
Westport has spent years making clear what we don’t want.
Now it’s time for all of us to ask for what we do want.
(“06880” Opinion pages are open to all. Send submissions to 06880blog@gmail.com. To support “06880” with a contribution, click here.)
