It’s not the Cribari Bridge, or the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge.
In fact, most Westporters never even realized there was a bridge on Jesup Road at all.
But when 7 inches of rain rendered the bridge — really just a tiny bit of road a few yards from Imperial Avenue — too dangerous to use last month, Westporters suddenly realized how important that little shortcut is. (Click here for yesterday’s story about the replacement process.)
It’s a quick way to avoid the Post Road, on the way to the Library and Levitt Pavilion.
More importantly, it’s the quickest way for police and Emergency Medical Services — whose headquarters are just up the hill — to head to just about any location in town east of the Saugatuck River.
The Jesup Road bridge is at the foot of the street, where it intersects with Imperial Avenue.
Even a fast-track replacement could take 12 to 18 months, considering the permitting, planning, review, budgeting and construction process.
So what — besides praying we don’t have a dire medical emergency — can we do?
Not much, beyond holding town (and state) officials’ feet to the fire.
But we can try to create workarounds.
One idea is to create alternate routes.
Several Westporters independently came up with the same ideas.
One is to make Bay Street — the short 1-way road that runs from Post Road East past Design Within Reach and the Cake Box to Jesup Road — 2-way. Parking along the road would be eliminated.
That’s a great plan — and not just because it provides important access to the Post Road.
Right now, cars park on both sides of Bay Street. It’s narrow to begin with. When you consider the size of today’s vehicles — and the less-than-stellar parallel parkin job some drivers do — it would also alleviate some of that mess.
Currently, cars park on both sides of Bay Street. (Photo/Google Maps)
Similarly, Taylor Place — the even shorter road that connects the lower library parking lot at the foot of Jesup Green (and Jesup Road) with the Post Road, from Tonic & Green to Tiffany — could also be converted to 2-way traffic. Or perhaps there could be 2 lanes of traffic, one for turning left or going straight, the other turning right.
A few 15-minute parking spots would be eliminated there, along with a delivery zone. But they seem like trade-offs that would help overall.
Taylor Place
Those are a couple of alternatives. “06880” readers probably have others thoughts. Click “Comments” below.
Meanwhile, there’s one other quick fix to make traffic flow a bit smoother: Take down the Imperial Avenue stop signs, in both directions, at Jesup Road.
For the next 12 to 18 months, there will be no need to stop there.
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Those are all great ideas! If you make Bay Street two-way, I’d also make it “right turn only” onto the Post Road (and maybe prohibit making a Left Turn from Post Road if traveling west), except for Emergency Vehicles of course.
Dan, I love these suggestions. I live in Old Hill and have been using the bridge daily as a shortcut to the senior center from the Post Road and as a walkway to the library from there. I sometimes cut through the parking lot behind Harding Funeral Home and take a left onto Bay Street to get to the library. The solution that I am concerned about is the removal of the stop signs on Imperial. There is a crosswalk at the stop signs that I think drivers may ignore. Maybe there is no temporary need for the crosswalk due to the bridge closure.
I have been a homeowner here for 40 years and while we do a wonderful job with the towns infrastructure nothing I mean nothing gets done quickly. Why can’t we find a quicker interim solution? I was impressed when the Sanibel Causeway was destroyed by hurricane Ian it was reopened in 15 days. We are talking about maybe a span of 20 feet. There has to be a quicker and better interim solution.
What’s the hysteria about? This bridge should be low on everyone’s list of priorities — particularly since first responders have said that the outage doesn’t meaningfully affect response times (so not sure why the opposite is being said here?).
Here’s a short list of more important items that affect far more Westporters’ health, safety, and time (including emergency response timing) that should be getting this level of attention:
– Intersection of Post Rd/Wilton Road
– Exit 17/railroad station rush hour traffic
– Cribari Bridge replacement
– “Triangle of death”
– Bayberry Lane/136 intersection
What else am I missing?
12-18 months? It’s too bad we can’t get the Seabees or the Army Corps of Engineers in. We’d have a functioning bridge by the weekend.
That was exactly my comment on the last post. The 192 nd Engineering Battalion in Stratford handles construction, mobility, and disaster response support. Get the Governor to activate them and it’s done in three weeks or maybe four.