Representative Town Meeting (RTM) member Andrew Colabella attended last night’s Traffic & Safety Task Force meeting.
Members provided an update to residents. The group meets twice a year publicly, but are always available to address concerns and asnwer questions. Andrew reports:
Since their inception in April 2022, the Traffic & Safety Task Force has been very active. Among their achievements:
Grants
Safe Streets for All: The Safety Action Plan is complete, and the implementation grant application is in preparation.
STEAP Grant: The Greens Farms Elementary School sidewalks contract has been awarded, and construction is complete.
LOTCIP Projects (Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program):
- Main Street – Compo Road North sidewalks: Construction is complete.
- Compo Road South sidewalks (from Post Road East to Bridge Street): Final design plans are being reviewed by the state Department of Transportation. Construction is expected this fall or next spring.
- Easton Road sidewalks (from Weston Road to Coleytown Road).
BIG Project: The Compo Road North sidewalk project is underway. Other potential incidental projects include a demonstration project that closes Taylor Place to vehicles, creating a pedestrian-only area. This has been approved as a LOTCIP project for funding. Preliminary talks are underway with various departments, including CDOT.
Town Projects
Cross Highway Traffic Improvements:
Phase 1: Signage has been installed. There have been many positive comments from the public.
Phase 2: Construction of the sidewalk from Wakeman Farm Lane to Bayberry Lane is 95% complete.
Phase 3: Construction of the sidewalk from North Avenue to Wakeman Farm Lane is scheduled for this year.
Phase 4: Construction of the Cross Highway culver over Deadman Brook is scheduled for the summer of 2026.
New signage at Cross Highway and Bayberry Lane includes flashing lights.
Compo Road South at Longshore, near Compo Parkway: Construction of the crosswalk and rapid flashing beacon is almost complete.
Imperial Avenue at Baker Avenue: Retrofit of the crosswalk and rapid flashing beacon is underway. CTDOT is finalizing the design. Construction is scheduled for this year.
Riverside Avenue improvements in Saugatuck Center: Funding has been approved for mid-block crosswalks and traffic signals. The design is in progress.
School Zones across town: Signage has recently been installed in school zones.
Stop sign on Edge Hill Lane: This stop sign is being addressed.
Stop sign to replace yield sign on Salem Lane at Salem Road: This is also being addressed, with MPH and curve to be included.
Approval for mid-block crosswalk and rapid flashing beacon on Easton Road at Wisteria Lane: The design is in progress. The project is working with property owners.
Riverside Avenue at Railroad Place: A new stop sign is being installed to replace the yield sign.
Morningside Drive South at Hillandale Road: Hillandale has become a 4-way stop.
New chevrons installed on Old Hill Road and Kings Highway North.
Signage improvements are underway on Roseville Road at Whitney St. to increase visibility.
CCGP Projects (Community Connectivity Grant Program):
Hillspoint Road (Compo Hill Avenue to Hales Road): Construction is 99% complete. Shared Lane Marking Route: A grant application has been submitted.
CT DOT Projects (Ongoing and on schedule)
Post Road East improvements (Crescent Road to Roseville Road, and Stop & Shop through Bulkley Avenue North and South).
Routes 57 & 136, Main Street/Weston Road/Easton Road, Merritt Parkway Exit 42 intersection improvements
I-95 Exit 17 Saugatuck Avenue Bridge
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To convey concerns, and work with town departments to analyze and solve issues, or proactively prevent something from becoming an issue.
Traffic enforcement requests: https://www.westportct.gov/government/departments-a-z/police-department/request-for-traffic-enforcement
All other traffic safety concerns:
| Police Department Non-Emergency | 203-341-6000 |
| Public Works | 203-341-1120 |
| Selectwoman’s Office | 203-341-1111 |
Thanks for your report, Andrew…
I attended last night’s meeting. Residents from districts 5, 9, and 1 all spoke with a common theme: how I-95 overflow is creating impossible conditions from the Fairfield to Norwalk border, and how urgent it is that Town Hall deal with them.
Members of the authority showed how they have served us well, executed local projects with aplomb, but then admitted helplessness when dealing with CTDOT.
We have to collectively infuse strength in these capable public servants and stop them being controlled by CTDOT bureaucrats, feckless politicians, and greedy developers.
Wow! Great report, Mr. Colabella.
So glad to hear North Compo Sidewalks are a thing now.
Would also reiterate my request for some type of traffic Management at Compo North/ Evergreen Ave. intersection. Perhaps a three-way stop?
Thank you for the comprehensive report. My only comment is that flashing lights sound great but in my experience with the one between Lansdowne condominiums and Tacombi, the ratio of stopping for the lights vs ignoring them is about 60-40. And this ratio is based on crossing between 5:45am to 7am when traffic is not heavy. Maybe the ratio will be better for the newly installed ones.
I think the 60-40 estimate is generous!
Today, two children wanted to cross, so I stopped as well as did the car to the left of me (we were eastbound, toward Fairfield).
NOBODY going in the opposite direction, stopped. One car, with their left turn signal on, approached the crosswalk. I thought, “they are slowing anyway, so they’ll have the good sense to stop and these young people will be able to cross.” Alas, the driver acted as if we had stopped in order to let her turn left in front of us. Rage.
Wilton Rd & Post Rd
Can anyone help me to understand why there is not a protected left turn signal when coming from Wilton Rd to turn onto the Post Rd and go over the bridge?
This may not be a request directly related to safety (surely there are indirect safety implications) but a matter of traffic efficiency.
I’ve long told myself the State has authority but I have no idea if that’s true and if so whether that’s a good excuse to not advocate for an improvement.
Thank you!
That is a state owned and controlled intersection.
Westport has 4 intersections with traffic signals that we own and maintain:
Main St/Avery
Main St Myrtle
Saugatuck Fire Station
Westport Fire HQ Station.
The town maintains 123 miles of road, 66 miles of private roadway, and then roughly 20 miles of state roadway. All the intersections…are on state.
In the last ten years, we had an opportunity to create a designated left turn lane, with signal, and move the house at the corner. It did not pass, and we lost our opportunity.
Where the state could add a left turn signal because it already has a left turn lane, is Compo Road South to Bridge Street. That has been in the works since 2017.
To include the state, everything from the driveway of the State CTDOT Garage towards Walgreens, Lyfe Cafe, McDonald’s and beyond, is their territory. Everything opposite side, is Trumbull CTDOT territory.
203-227-7692 is the Westport CTDOT Garage contact. Angela and her crew are extremely receptive and quick.
203-380-3836 is the Trumbull DOT garage which handles from Earth Animal all the way to Stop n Shop side of Westport.
Hope this helps further!
It does! Thank you for the quick reply.
I’m interpreting your history of the opportunity we had to make a change to suggest that to have a protected turn signal would require a dedicate turning lane (hence the issue with the house). Is this a hard requirement somewhere? Can we advocate for an exception to the rule?
I’m no traffic expert, but I can still see an improvement of having a protected signal without the addition of a turning lane (it would have the same effect as when a traffic cop manually stops all other traffic to let through the back up on Wilton Rd).
there needs to be enough room for such designated turning lane, because of MUTCD. Back then (the better times), you could have a single wide lane, and vehicles could angle in and make turns on red where safe to do so, and not have to take away sidewalk, grass, open space, etc.
David Waldman came to PZ with a fantastic plan and opportunity to restore the little house at the corner and move it. And it was shot down. Too many missed opportunities, but what we know now, we could have more local control.
Walgreens location for a $1 from the state, Steinway Building now Autostrada for FD, purchasing commercial and residential properties for town ownership to design and address the need of affordable housing while keeping with the milieu of Westport and not gargantuan over the top slapped together units.
Luckily, project 158-215 has light at the end of the tunnel. 10 years in the making, I wish we buried utilities underground, but I missed that.
Who knows, maybe we can try to move it again.
Great idea, Galen. I have long advocated this solution for the Post Road West/Wilton Road/Riverside Avenue cluster****:
Each of the 4 sides gets one green light cycle devoted only to that line of traffic; the other 3 are all red. So every vehicle moves from, say, Post Road West westbound, turning left onto Riverside, going straight up the hill, or right onto Wilton Road at the same time.
Then, Wilton Road gets the green light, to turn left on Post Road West, go straight on Riverside, or right up the hill.
Etc.
That (I think) would prevent the current situation — maybe only slightly, but what we have now sure isn’t working.
Even better! Sounds like we are on the same page.
and the downtown lights aren’t timed right with the willing road light so the get stuck going over the bridge, and if we can paint the boxes with some sign that say don’t block the box, we are leaving easy solutions on the table.
Hi Andy…Would still love to see a left turn arrow on light at Bridge and S. Compo (turning left onto Bridge from S. Compo. Thanks.
Absolutely. And I’m not sure the timing of that light is great. Seems too long for cars on Greens Farms and Bridge Street, and too short for those on Compo Road South (especially coming from the beach).
Wait until I call you and tell you the story 🤣
adding to the list, the town road at Myrtle and Post Road, a line in the road on Myrtle making sure left cars turning left move over. without church lane open we need an optimal flow there, easy improvement to a state road.
I meant our town controlled road for a line dividing the right lane in to two lanes at the post road intersections. sorry it’s early!
I often see Bob, one of Westport’s long-time traffic police officers, at rush hour helping pedestrians/commuters get home efficiently and safely. He reports he is frequently ‘brushed’ by cars while doing his job.
Last week Bob was knocked over by a car while directing traffic at North Ave and Coleytown road improvements. Urging drivers to pay extra attention to what is going around them during these upcoming road improvements.
I meant to our town controlled road Myrtle.
The First Selectwoman Jen Tooker’s Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Task Force has done an outstanding job identifying and implementing improvements to our Town.
The number one problem is the intersection of Post Road and Route 33 (Wilton Road/Riverside) and the lack of a complete pedestrian signal system. These are State Roads and the State of Connecticut Department of Transportation needs to step up and fix it.
Pedestrians literally cross at the own risk. I have witnessed constituents with special needs struggle to get a chance to cross and young teens scramble for their lives to get from downtown back to their homes in Old Hill.
Enough excuses from the State. Those of us in District 2 have tolerated this for too long. The State identified this intersection years ago as one of the top five worst intersections in Connecticut, yet they neglect to fix it.
CT DOT – just do it. Put in 4-way pedestrian signal lights.
Lou, I agree 100% this intersection at the Post Rd and Rt 33/Riverside/Wilton Rd absolutely needs safe pedestrian crossings. How best do we go about this? What are next steps?
Diane,
Write to our state legislators and ask them to support our First Selectwoman’s Pedestrian and Traffic Task Force initiatives. Get the CT Department of Transportation buy-in, starting with the highest priorities.
State Senator Ceci Maher
Ceci.maher@cga.ct.gov
State Representative Dominique Johnson
dominique.johnson@cga.ct.gov
State Representative Jonathan Steinberg
Jonathan.steinberg@cga.ct.gov
We must show up at the next State meeting on the Cribari Bridge to voice our concerns. When that bridge shuts down, we go from 3 crossings of the Saugatuck River down to two, making traffic even worse and pedestrian safety more hazardous.
All Westporters have a stake in the First Selectwoman’s Westport Safety Action Plan.
Thank you, Andrew. I’m delighted to see that at least one of the roads out here in “God’s country” (as Coleytown was called by our realtor when we moved here) is getting sidewalks!
I’ve lived in Westport for 12 years now and obviously a Newbie in town years, but as worried and frustrated with real TRAFFIC SAFETY! If the people of Westport really want progress in really frustrating and dangerous traffic safety and movement then they should stop flapping about simple and possible town street improvements and spend their time, energy and voices going after the real problem!! CDOT, Connecticut Department of Transportation for those who don’t understand that this state agency is the real problem and impediment to solving traffic problems and making Westport streets and intersections safer and more efficient. There are so many ways and things Westport could improve if they would get motivated to push this agency to do a better job! “Speak softly and carry a big stick!”
1. Post Road- None of the intersection traffic signals have been synchronized for the current traffic volumes or time of day traffic usage. More left turn changes are needed where possible to help keep traffic volumes flowing. The current widening projects that are being worked on are so slow and disorderly and the CTDOT project management is ABISMAL! that the traffic slows to a crawl and dangerous transits and turns exist daily.
2. Most of the major intersection and higher volume streets in Westport are state highways as the signs and numbering show. Why is this important? If CTDOT does not study, engineer and initiate the needed improvements nothing, and I mean nothing will ever happen at any such location or area!!
These are probably the two biggest impediments to improving traffic flow, efficiency and safety in Westport and the two existing $400,000-$500,000 town contracted consultant contracts and these wasted efforts will ever SOLVE THESE NEEDED CHANGES! Unless Westport figures out a meaningful way to get CTDOT to do their jobs in a more expedient way our children and grandchildren will be having meaningless taskforces and committees struggling to really see progress on these traffic safety and efficiencies!
If Westport really wants to see reasonable progress and results it has got to stop dealing with this problem in the same OLD Ways!!
I doubt this will ever happen but I guess hope springs eternal,