There’s a selectperson’s race in the fall. One issue: a state Department of Transportation plan to replace the bridge over the Saugatuck River.
That’s this year’s scenario. But history repeats itself. The same events played out 40 years ago, in 1985.
This summer, Longtime Westporter (and Bridge Street resident) Werner Liepolt discovered a 4-decade-old t-shirt during a closet cleanout. He writes:
In the summer of 1985, crowds of Westporters wearing “Preserve the Bridge/Save a Neighborhood” t-shirts attended DOT meetings, protested on the bridge, and called for Westport’s candidates for first selectperson to protect a neighborhood and its residents from the irreparable harm threatened by a plan to replace the bridge and allow tractor trailer traffic an unobstructed route through residential Saugatuck.
Vintage 1985 t-shirt, designed by Bill Bell.
Republican candidate Bill Seiden and his Democratic opponent Marty Hauhuth both weighed in.
On August 9, 1985, the Norwalk Hour reported: “First Selectman Bill Seiden asked [CTDOT] to restore and repair the bridge rather than enlarge it which would allow tractor trailers to traverse the state route. He said that the public in general have justifiable fears that a bridge built for such a loading [10 tons & up] will encourage the use of 18-wheelers through our residential streets.
“Preserve The Bridge/Save A Neighborhood” supporters: Top row (left to right): Former 1st Selectwoman Jacqueline Heneage, Andy Ackemann, Marty Hauhuth, Sylvia Kamerow. Front: Bobbi Liepolt, Jordan Liepolt, Lorna Christopherson. (Westport News photo, courtesy of Woody Klein’s “Westport, Connecticut: The Story of a New England Town’s Rise to Prominence”)
His opponent, Hauhuth, acknowledging the neighborhood’s history. said: “The Saugatuck community has already almost been destroyed by one monstrous highway [I-95] and we cannot accept any bridge that would again create such monstrous approaches and desecration of homes.”
Hauhuth was dedicated, and more convincing. The “Preserve The Bridge/Save a Neighborhood” group endorsed her, and helped her defeat the incumbent, Seiden.
In the ensuing decades:
- CTDOT restored the bridge.
- Westporters ensured its National Register status, as the oldest operable pin-connected swing bridge in America.
- Our state representatives blessed it with the name of beloved local traffic policeman, William F. Cribari.
- Route 136, from the bridge up Compo Road South, is now a designated State Scenic Highway, thanks to John Suggs, Helen Garten, Wendy Crowther and Morley Boyd.
- The Westport Historic Commission worked successfully with the State Historic Preservation Commission to designate the Bridge Street neighborhood — including the Cribari Bridge — as a National Register District.
Forty years later 35 more home owners reside in The Saugatuck (formerly Saugatuck Elementary School), Westport’s first cooperative affordable housing project. It opened in 1988.
And now there are 8 more families in newly built homes on the street leading to the bridge. More kids wait for school buses, bike, walking dogs, and wave to boats passing through the open bridge.
The open Cribari Bridge. (Photo/Whitmal Cooper)
In “Westport, Connecticut: The Story of a New England Town’s Rise to Prominence,” author Woody Klein reported Hauhuth’s sense of satisfaction with her service as first selectperson, stopped in traffic, waiting for the bridge to close:
A group of people gathered and it was delightful. There were people waving from a sailboat in the water. It was a wonderful, marvelous, small town summer scene. As Bob and I were watching somebody behind us said, “The town did the right thing in keeping this bridge. It’s wonderful.” That made me feel as good as anything I did as first selectman.
The Westporters wearing the t-shirts felt pretty wonderful too. We look back on the work that just needed a shirt to get started, and it makes us feel as good as anything we did.
However, not only did we find the preserved shirt, we found the silk screen used to print it.
Will a 2025 edition be needed for the coming election and CTDOT hearings?
(Friday Flashback is one of “06880”‘s many regular features. If you enjoy this — or anything else on our website — please consider a tax-deductible contribution. Just click here. Thank you!)
