Werner Liepolt is a longtime Bridge Street resident, and a Section 106 consulting party for the Cribari Bridge project. He writes:
Last Sunday, the League of Women Voters brought District 9 residents together with our 4 Representative Town Meeting members
It was a welcome opportunity to talk about flooding, traffic, development and the Cribari Bridge.
The bridge discussion raised a question that reaches far beyond District 9: When will 1st Selectman Kevin Christie organize Westport’s participation in a project that could reshape Saugatuck for generations?
RTM member Nancy Kail had asked him for an update on the bridge, and the formation of an advisory committee. His September 27 response promised “more on the Cribari and Downtown committees soon.”
Residents need more than “soon.” We need a timetable, a public process, and a clear account of what the town intends to accomplish.
1st Selectman Kevin Christie (Photo/Dave Matlow)
That expectation follows Mr. Christie’s own statement. On April 9 he announced a Cribari Bridge Advisory Committee, saying, “Westport has a real stake in this project for our neighborhoods, our infrastructure, and our fiscal future.”
He said the committee would ground decisions in facts, incorporate community input, and identify solutions that work for Westport.
Four days later, at an appearance at the Westport Library, Governor Ned Lamont responded to RTM member Kristin Schneeman’s question about the bridge. He acknowledged residents’ concerns, and said he would bring Mr. Christie and the state transportation commissioner together to work toward a solution.
Those statements offered a promising beginning.
Nearly 6 months later, residents deserve to know what has followed: Has the committee been appointed? Have those discussions taken place? What work is underway, and when will the public participate?
Cribari Bridge. (Photo/Fred Cantor)
I live on Bridge Street, and have participated in the federal review as a Section 106 consulting party since 2017. The February 2026 Environmental Assessment identifies replacement on the existing alignment as the preferred alternative.
The federal Permitting Dashboard currently lists May 31, 2027 as the estimated completion date for environmental review and permitting. That date gives Westport a reason to act now.
The 1st Selectman’s office and the RTM should use the remaining time to assemble the evidence, document local concerns, and establish what the town wants the agencies to address.
The risk of delay is practical: The agencies’ review can advance while Westport’s concerns remain scattered among individual residents, departments and organizations.
A coordinated town submission would make those concerns explicit, and give residents a basis for checking whether they have been answered.
The 1st selectman is in a position to bring that work together. Residents deserve to know what discussions he has had with the state Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, what he has requested, and what commitments he has obtained.
If those discussions have occurred, he should report on them. If they have not, he should initiate them.
The questions requiring attention are substantial, but understandable. What traffic would each bridge alternative accommodate or attract? Could changes in capacity or clearance alter heavytruck routes? What would that mean for noise, vibration, air quality, and pedestrian safety? Whether truck traffic would increase—and by how much—deserves analysis.
The review should also account for commuter traffic, school buses, children walking or biking, and parent drop-offs, alongside foreseeable development.
The proposed 250 apartments at 55 Greens Farms Road, including 75 affordable units, make it particularly important to examine future travel needs. For residents who do not drive or have limited transportation options, these questions are especially consequential.
The town should hear directly from residents of The Saugatuck senior cooperative, and nearby Homes with Hope housing.
Each alternative, including its construction period, should be evaluated for safe access to shopping, medical care, work, buses and the railroad station.
Safety concerns in this neighborhood already have concrete examples. In 2022, a jury returned a verdict against the state in a case involving a teenager seriously injured after CTDOT inadequately removed a Bridge Street crosswalk. More recently, a police pursuit involved collisions on Bridge Street near Imperial Avenue.
Bridge Street traffic, headed to the Cribari Bridge. (Photo/Susan Garment)
These incidents underscore the need to examine crossings, intersections and pedestrian protection throughout the bridge’s approaches. Alongside traffic and safety, Westport needs clear answers about design flexibility, rehabilitation and replacement costs, service lives, construction disruption, emergency access, historic-district impacts, and ownership of the bridge and its approaches.
Mr. Christie, 3 actions would demonstrate leadership now.
First, announce the Cribari committee’s membership, mandate, and timetable. Give it clear responsibility for examining neighborhood impacts and bridge alternatives, with meaningful public participation. Convene a working session with residents, housing representatives, town staff and the Historic District Commission, and invite CTDOT and FHWA.
Second, designate a town coordinator to assemble transportation, housing, land-use, property, emergency-access and preservation information into a written submission to the agencies.
Third, publish the town’s questions and the agencies’ responses. Confirm whether a revised Environmental Assessment is planned, its anticipated publication date, and the opportunities for further public comment. Set dates for the working session and town submission so residents can follow progress.
The town cannot control every state or federal decision. However, its leadership can ensure that Westport’s concerns are documented, presented, and pursued.
Please give residents a public plan and dates for action. The opportunity to influence this review is too important to leave at “soon.”
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Are we even certain that Mr. Christie is working as our selectman? Has he done a single thing since taking office? This guy is completely useless as a selectman. What a poor choice and what a fake campaign he ran.
Thank you Werner for stating this so succinctly!
Thank you Werner Liebolt, the League of Wonen Voters and District 9 RTM representatives for bringing the Cribari Bridge issues forward. It is obvious the Cribari Bridge decision is long overdue and that decision affects all Westporters. We don’t need more studying, we deserve some decisions and finally a move forward.
Ya’ll are a tough bunch. Just the other day, I stopped at the Jessup Disaster and spotted Kevin in the brook with a few other town officials. I’ll reiterate: In Deadman’s Brook, beneath the wreckage. I believe it’s unfair to dismiss current priorities.
Well done, Werner. Thank you for expressing what, regrettably, was necessary. Selectman Christie is plainly a decent person. But as a leader he’s been a real disappointment – so far. The matter of the Cribari Bridge requires the attention of a chief elected official with vision, energy, commitment – and strength. I can only hope that Selectman Christie will surprise us all and rise to the challenge because, at the moment, we’re headed for trouble.
Does this guy do anything at all as selectman? Is this Mostly a no show job? The town seems to be in good shape despite the lack of anything being done by its leadership. Does he even show up to work?
“Has he done a single thing?” Seriously?
Christie hasn’t even been First Selectman a year, and look at what has landed on his desk. Multiple major storms and emergency declarations; widespread power outages; and then September’s extraordinary flash flood, nearly 7 inches of rain in three hours, 130 flood calls, 13 people rescued from vehicles, 5 care-facility residents evacuated, a flooded sewer pump station and a storm-damaged Jesup Road bridge that now has to be replaced.
Meanwhile, longstanding infrastructure work is moving forward. Public Works Director Peter Ratkiewich said the Easton Road project had “been in the works for many, many years.” Under Christie, the Town approved a $365,000 contract for final design, permitting and construction documents, and has since awarded construction work. And not settling for mediocre, he’s getting it done right.
He’s led the Town through a major budget and five-year revaluation, with the mill rate dropping from 18.86 to 13.2.
And after decades of Cribari Bridge debate, he’s putting an advisory committee in place so Westport has a voice while working with the state to actually move the project forward.
All of that in less than a year, while dealing with one weather emergency after another. So this “completely useless,” “hasn’t done a single thing” stuff isn’t criticism. It’s just nonsense contradicted by the record.
Nobody is disputing that Christie has had a busy first year or that Westport’s employees and first responders have handled some extraordinary emergencies. After all, first responders—that is their job.
Responding to storms isn’t the same thing as an administration’s record of accomplishment.
Easton Road was in the works for years before Christie took office, so who initiated that first? Ah, not him.
The five year revaluation was required by state law, and the lower mill rate came after the Grand List increased more than 50%—while the actual town budget increased 5% and majority of homeowners saw their taxes go up.
The Cribari committee was being pushed by RTM districts before Christie announced it, while the bridge itself remains a state led project.
Let’s also give Public Works, Police, Fire, EMS, the Board of Finance, RTM and prior administrations credit for their work.
My granddaughter now lives in my home in greens farms, and not a single peep was heard to residents who lost their homes in the recent flood.
We’ve all seen the same post from the same person expressing the same basic views at least two dozen times in the last year or so. Message received. Time to hear from someone else.
He speaks for many of us. I live in the neighborhood and am grateful to Werner for speaking up and having the time to speak
Up for the neighborhood residents. He’s beating the drum yet not being heard.
Werner’s “questions requiring attention” may have missed one: What impact would any eminent domain action have to the homeowners on the bridge’s eastern shore, or the commercial properties on its western shore? Either due to a widening of the current crossing or even the construction of a temporary bridge in parallel. Such a threat, never mind a reality, would plausibly affect neighboring property values.
Well all the criticism about the puppet first selectman ( including myself) has been well deserved but wait , you ALL voted for him ( I didn’t) do you get what you asked for,, crickets
We’re you awake during the four years of Jennifer Tooker? Did we really want four more years of GOP leadership of the BOS?
Drive by the State construction along the Connector and tell me how her non-response to State requests have served Town.
I’m not defending Mr Christie here, but the “you voted for him” stuff is silly, given what we put up with the last four years. (And what did she do to solve the bridge problem?)
Thank you for the discussion. I recognize the demands of the recent flooding and the importance of the town’s emergency response. My request concerns the Cribari committee announced in April: its membership, responsibilities, timetable, and opportunities for public participation. Those are concrete steps the town can report on and advance.
Ken Stamm raises an important additional concern. Westport should seek clear answers about whether each alternative—including temporary construction arrangements—would require property acquisition, easements, or changes in access, and what those would mean for nearby homes and businesses.
I share the desire to move forward. A public timetable and a coordinated town submission would turn the concerns raised here into specific questions the agencies must address. I hope Mr. Christie will provide that plan and dates for action.
Werner, I recall that you sent a letter to Selectman Christie back in July asking for clarification regarding the ownership of the Cribari Bridge since there appears to be no recorded instrument conveying the bridge from the town to the State of Connecticut. Did you receive a response to your inquiry?
Thank you for asking. I have not received a response from First Selectman Christie to my July inquiry. I did discuss the ownership question with the Historic District Commission, but that discussion did not produce documentation of a transfer from the Town to the State. Congressman Himes’s staff also recently asked whether I had received a response.
I have long assumed that the State owns the bridge. My request is simply for the documentary basis for that understanding, so ownership can be clarified as decisions about the bridge’s future proceed.
If the Staples Players ever do a rendition of ‘Mean Girls’, they don’t have to look to far if they want to assemble a cast that consistently exhibits competitive social behaviors. Plenty of actors right here in this post.
Must be a 1/2 day at WPT’s Middle Schools.
Is it possible Kevin is a “floater” in The Peter Principle ⁉️