If there is one thing Westporters agree on, it’s that our traffic light system is broken.
This light stays red too long. This one is not green long enough. Why isn’t there a left-turn arrow here? Why can’t I go right on red there?
And, always: Why doesn’t the town do something about it?
The answer is frustratingly simple: It can’t. They’re not our lights.
According to Representative Town Meeting member Andrew Colabella, there are 123 miles of town roads. 66 miles are private, and only 18.5 miles belong to the state.
But nearly every traffic light in Westport hangs over a state road.
Post Road East and West. Saugatuck and Riverside Avenues. Wilton Road. Easton Road. You name it: If there’s a light on it, odds are astronomical it belongs to the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
Call Town Hall about a traffic problem? They’re not our lights!
In fact, Andrew says, the only traffic lights the town controls are on Main Street at Avery Place and Myrtle Avenue, the Saugatuck fire station, and — because it’s a special, controllable light — the one at Fire Department headquarters.
So, if you have concerns — immediate (a light is out) or long-range (change the timing), the state DOT is the agency to call.*
But it’s a bureaucracy, so (of course) there are 2 separate jurisdictions.
The state DOT garage (next to Walgreens, across from Patio.com) handles all work orders from their driveway westward (to the Norwalk line). Their number is 203-227-7692.
Everything east of the state DOT garage is done by the Trumbull garage: 203-380-3836).
Traffic light concerns or electrical issues? Call 203-878-1869.
*Looking for ideas? Here’s one. Make each cycle at the Post Road West/ Riverside Avenue/Wilton Road cluster**** green for one side only, and red for the other three.
In other words, if you’re on Wilton Road, with Bartaco on your left, you get a green light to go any direction — left or right on the Post Road, straight ahead onto Riverside — while traffic is stopped in the other direction.
Then the cars coming down the Post Road West hill get their own green — to turn left or right, or go straight over the bridge — while everyone else stops.
Etc., etc.
It’s the only way to prevent back-ups, while cars wait for those in front to turn — but they can’t, because vehicles coming from the opposite direction are trying to do the same.
Hey, it’s worth a try. The current system is broken.
Right now, an entire cycle can pass with cars waiting for one to turn in any direction from Wilton Road, Post Road West or Riverside Avenue.
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Dan delightful story
Ironic that Westport traffic lights are such a mess when William Phelps Eno – one of the biggest innovators in traffic light history lived for many years in Westport! (The first place I lived as a single person in Westport almost 40 yrs ago was in an apartment with a few others in his old mansion at Charmers Landing on the water where the Saugatuck River meets the sound. It had seen better days but lots of parties were had there!)
Recent article on deadliest roads in the country (they are all state roads)… https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/384562/state-highways-dots-car-crashes-pedestrian
Maybe the town can assign someone to collectively present all the recommendations to the state. We shouldn’t just all randomly send emails to a department. If we truly want it fixed, someone should be able to collectively collect the ideas, vote on recommendations with a small committee, and then present to the state for approval? Just a thought!
My experience, though admittedly limited, suggests it can sometimes be a challenge to get DOT to make even the slightest adjustment to the lights in question. Despite evidence based on an actual field test conducted by our (wonderful and completely sympathetic) police department that showed adding around 5 -7 seconds to the green arrow at Myrtle/Post Road cleared, on average, an additional 10 cars from Myrtle, DOT declined to take action. The fact that it took me several years to extract any response at all from the agency only added to my frustration. I’m not a quitter but, in this particular instance, I just had to let it go. I hope others have better luck with their suggestions.
As an aside, my idea to slightly reduce congestion at the Myrtle/Post Road light was officially endorsed by the Board of Selectmen acting in its capacity as the Traffic Authority. Thus, the recommendation was formally presented to DOT by the Town of Westport. I think the effort may have suffered from the fact that no one from the administration stayed on it or followed up. That task, by default, became the responsibility of the citizen petitioner…
Thank you Jeanine for sharing a piece of Westport history I did not know. I share the view that organizing the ideas will be much more productive than sending individual emails. Bringing about change takes perseverance. I have no doubt that we can prevail, if we work together. We have to organize the ideas and prioritize the asks. Has that been done? Look at all the new sidewalks funded by the State of CT. The sign couls not be bigger down by the beach. As painful as the traffic is, look at the work happening on the Post Road – Again CT State DOT. I see Westport benefiting from work done by the DOT or funded by the DOT. I would love to see the requests we have made. We can all help if we know what the Town has asked for. What do we want them to do next?
I lived in Bangkok in the 70s for 6 months. 3 months at a time. The traffic had it’s own rules. Despite traffic lights and one way roads, the taxi drivers would ignore all such direction. I travelled by taxi always and when the traffic got stopped up the taxi would U-turn, find a one way street o use, (going the wrong way, drive across a field where there was no road at all and get me to my destination ASAP. I don’t remember ever having a police man encounter except for one time when the cab driver paid him off. All the while, the cab driver would laugh and bless himself whenever we drove by a Wat, a temple. What an adventure at 20something years old. Watch out Westport.
A long time has passed and for a couple of decades, I lived away from Westport, but prior to that from 1959 to 1986, I was a Westport cop. During that time for maybe several thousands of hours, I did traffic at Wilton Road and the Post Road, sometimes on overtime as a special detail at commuter time and sometimes just spotting a traffic tie-up there while on patrol, notifying HQ and checking out of the car to clear traffic. At that time, the control box was located on the northwest corner of the intersection with a clear view of traffic from all directions. Every patrol officer had a key to the traffic boxes and it was simply part of the job to spot a traffic problem and do traffic to clear a problem when necessary. Tines have changed. Did the State remove the ability to control traffic from the control boxes? Changing the timing will alleviate some problems, but the lights themselves cannot anticipate when a traffic problem will occur. The intersection at the Post Road and Wilton Road has been a problem long before I started my police career and will continue to be a problem with the inevitable growth of traffic in the future. Way back in the 1960’s, downtown Westport was traffic chaos at holiday time. Beginning the day after Thanksgiving, the late Captain Ralph Meeker scheduled officers on overtime at the lights at Myrtle Avenue, Rte 1 and Main Street, Rte 1 and Parker Harding and a couple in the shopping areas, to keep everything moving as needed. It was usually a shift of 4 to 5 hours and continued through Christmas Eve. There were no problems. The immediate answer to problem intersections could be to assigning police officers or traffic agents to busy intersections as needed on an overtime basis. – Just Saying! – Dick Alley – Retired Inspector – WPD
This has been an ongoing problem and its always easy to blame the state. No mention is made of our elected representatives who love to expound on all of the important positions they hold to keep getting re-elected and ignore basic needs.
As a night owl, I often go CVS and then up to EXXON in the middle of the night. Why oh Why do they have a light, not blinking, at Fresh Market @ Post Road.? You sit there for five minutes with absolutely no traffic. That said, I believe stop lights should replace stop signs at many junctures throughout town to control traffic and enforce actually stopping. They have been “running” stop signs here since I got my license in ’64, only now they are more to run.