I-95 (aka the Connecticut Turnpike or Thruway — though definitely not the “John Davis Lodge Turnpike”) has been part of Westport for so long that its path through here, largely paralleling the railroad tracks, seems foreordained.
Of course, it was not.
In 1951 — when planning for the highway was underway — 2 different routes were proposed.
One was very similar to what was ultimately decided — though it appears a second, or alternate, exit was included, at the Compo Road South/Greens Farms Road/ Bridge street intersection. (Greens Farms Road was further south then than it is now.)
But a northern highway was also considered.
Two proposed routes, from the October 18, 1951 Westporter-Herald. Click on or hover over to enlarge.
It would veer off just after the Norwalk border. It would rip through Treadwell Avenue and Kings Highway South, cross over Post Road West (with an exit by Birchwood Country Club), then head east at Riverside Avenue (another possible exit).
The “expressway” would continue just south of Post Road East (known at the time as State Street East), obliterating residences in its path through Hillandale Road, then just south of Greens Farms Elementary School (another potential exit), and on eastward through Maple Avenue South.
At the Fairfield line, the highway would continue at what is now its current location.
Legend has it that the more southern route was chosen because the governor — a Westport resident — lived on Easton Road, closer to the northern path.
The governor’s name?
John Davis Lodge.
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50 Years Ago This Week:
The Staples High School boys soccer team, coached by Albie Loeffler, earned its 5th consecutive state title (a Connecticut record).
Jimmy Manning headed in a beautiful cross from Kenny Murphy in sudden-death overtime to defeat #1-ranked Manchester. The upstaters had a perfect record going into the state final.
Staples finished 13-1-5.
(Every day, “06880” covers the Westport of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Please click here to help support our work. Thank you!)
Isn’t the Sherwood Island Connector also the stubby remains of a plan for a much more ambitious highway that would have cut through town and connected I-95 wth the Merritt Parkway, much as the Milford Parkway does today a few miles up the road?
Yes, indeed. That plan did not get very far, either physically or politically.
I was just a teenager, but I vividly recall the uncertainty, the excitement, the emotional impact, and the eventual neighborhood destruction of what many of us considered local town treasures in Westport and Fairfield and almost overnight the sudden state street change. In the ensuing years, dozens of diners and local night spots disappeared as did our small-town gateway experience.
I think Dan Woog should interview Michael Calise for the Podcast!!!
There was pre-1958, and post 1958. Pre is only a distant memory.
I imagine that’s why the Merrit Parkway was built further north–it wouldn’t entail as much destruction. Once the turnpike was built, however, I think the inconvenience of having traveling to that part of town made the turnpike the preferred option.
My uncle’s house got moved from what would be the middle of the turnpike to the corner of Clapboard Hill & South Morningside Drive. It’s a huge McMansion house now with the driveway switched to Clapboard from South Morningside Drive. My parents and uncle bought 8+ acres around 1958 and sold 4 of them a few years later for the price they paid for the 8 acres. Basically they got their land (4 acres) for free! Welcome to Westport between 1958 and 1961.
There was a house moved from the original Greens Farms Rd. to Hillspoint Rd., sticking out from the 1950s-built houses.
Also talked about was a “connector” from the present I-95 to the Merritt Parkway via a path south of North Avenue and right through our home on Cross Highway. Ole Dad was shitting bricks.
After our honeymoon on the Cape in 1958 we drove back to our apartment in Washington DC via I-95, except it wasn’t officially open yet. The stripes were not yet on the road. My husband said joyously
“This is so great…there is no traffic at all”
Cary Peterson
My family history tells a slightly different story, my great grandfather Sanford Russell Barnes was the commissioner of the highway department for the state of Connecticut at the time. His estranged wife and daughters lived on Treadwell Avenue and he didn’t want them to be displaced. He also drove the governor the length of I95 after the ribbon cutting ceremony.