Gentlemen (And Women): Start Your Engines!

David Loffredo has been driving the same car for 25 years.

It’s a 5-speed manual transmission. Sitting in local traffic, his clutch foot goes numb.

From time to time though, he puts the top down and breezes through town.

Without stopping.

For 2.5 miles.

That’s right. David has figured out a 2 1/2-mile route in Westport — with another .7 miles in a neighboring town — without a single traffic light.

Or even a stop sign.

David Loffredo, in his 25-year-old car.

He poses 2 challenges to “06880” readers:

  • What’s the route?
  • And can anyone find a longer “non-stop” one (at least half of which must be in Westport).

Click “Comments” below to play.

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18 responses to “Gentlemen (And Women): Start Your Engines!

  1. jack krayson

    That’s not an ‘old’ car. It’s a Porsche,,,they live forever. #911

  2. jack krayson

    That’s not an ‘old’ car…it’s a Porsche. They are eternal #911

  3. Fred Cantor

    I don’t believe this is David’s route but once you go beyond Coleytown El on Easton Road and head toward the Aspetuck Orchard, there is a very long stretch without a stop sign or stop light.

  4. Newtown turnpike from Wilton Road to 53 is pretty long and, to my recollection, I don’t think there are any stop signs.

    • Ernie Lorimer

      In that direction. In the other direction some people have been known to observe the stop sign at Woodcock. 3.7 miles, but little of it in Westport.

  5. Betsy Kravitz

    Starting at the Sherwood island connector light – Greens Farms Rd to Beachside Ave (through Southport) Or to Clapboard Hill all the way to the Post rd? I think both will give you no stops….

  6. Brandon Malin

    One nice non-stop route is from Greens Farms at the Connector heading towards Fairfield. If you turn right onto Beachside Ave (over the new bridge), you can keep going without stopping, including past Southport beach in Fairfield! It’s pretty picturesque too along Beachside and once you get into Southport.

  7. Congratulations to Betsy and Brandon!

    According to David Loffredo, who tracked it on his odometer, you start at the Sherwood Island Connector light. Then drive east on Greens Farms Road, take a ight on Beachside, and follow as it becomes Pequot at the border (2.5 mile mark), and continue to Westway Road (3.2 mile mark) where you encounter a stop sign.

  8. Mark Yurkiw

    Ha! The challenge isn’t finding the route without a stop but one without traffic!
    I don’t even go to the store without turning on my Waze to avoid standstill traffic. One 2.8mi. trip to the Library took me 45min. (it should take 10min)
    Soon the miracle will be finding a clutch, EV’s don’t have one.

  9. Barbara Sherburne '67

    I have a 5-speed manual transmission ’93 Toyota Tercel that I bought new in ’93. I wish there was someplace in Wallingford without stoplights and stop signs.

  10. Heading on Saugatuck Ave. after the lights by the highway, there is not a stop sign or light for at least two miles

  11. Dick Lowenstein

    Greens Farms Road from the Connector Road to the Fairfield line is 2.6 miles….the longest stretch of town road without a single stop sign, traffic light or speed hump. That’s why everyone uses it as a substitute for I-95 and why the residents are demanding controls to reduce the volume (at rush hour) and the speeding (at other times.) And it where the town can exercise. authority.

    Time to get off my soap box! But I’ll be back 🙂

  12. Go east on Long Lots from the 4 way stop intersection at High Point. Then turn left onto Sturges Hwy (yielding to oncoming cars) and continue on Sturges until Easton Rd. Roughly 4 miles and a nice bike ride. Fairly sure there are no stop signs. Of course you will need to drive on the wrong side of the road or you will be in Fairfield!

  13. Pete Wolgast

    Either I-95 or the Merritt Parkway. Both are longer. Dan, you would have provided an answer like this on one of your soccer trivia nights.

    My wife bought a Volvo 960 in Westport in 1993. She drove it for over 200,000 miles until a transmission part broke late in 2021 which could not be replaced. Over the years she had many unsolicited offers to buy the car but refused to part with it. Reluctantly she leased a new Volvo in January.

  14. Joyce Barnhart

    Do any former New Yorkers remember being able to make every light for many blocks on Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill if you hit it right and went 29 miles an hour? Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlor, anyone?

    • Bobbie Herman

      Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlor in Jackson Heights — we used to go there from the Five Towns in Nassau County. I remember the “Joe Sent Me,” served in a beer mug. And if we had a big enough crowd, we’d order “The Kitchen Sink,” with a gazillion scoops for $49.95.

  15. Jonathan Hochhauser

    From the stop sign at Long Lots Rd and Hyde Lane heading toward Fairfield, make a left at Sturges Highway, bear right at Cross Highway then quickly turn left to stay on Sturges Highway. By the time you hit the stop sign at the top of Sturges Highway you’ve traveled 3.9 without stopping. Perhaps you are technically in Fairfield for much of that if the town line is the Sturges ouble yellow, but you are bordering Westport the entire way…and it’s pretty fun 3 pedal driving.