After a slow start, for the past few days this COVID holiday shopping season seemed as crowded as any other.
Today, with Christmas at home and dreary weather, the streets were deserted.
We haven’t seen the Post Road this empty this since the first days of the pandemic.
(Photo/Carolanne Curry)
Tomorrow, it’s back to the new normal.
Over the years I’ve seen tons of photos of the Riverside Avenue/Wilton Road intersection, looking down and east from the Post Road hill.
But until I spotted this one — courtesy of Kathleen Kiska and Michael Tedesco — I’d never seen a view quite like this.
The wide, sharp shot — from 1914 — seems to capture turn-of-the-last-century Westport. A thriving business district existed right alongside residential neighborhoods. The little kid riding a bicycle looks straight out of Norman Rockwell.
But who was in charge of the roads? They look in even worse shape than they are today.
Posted in Downtown, Friday Flashback
Tagged National Hall, Post Road, Post Road bridge, Riverside Avenue
It’s official: Westport schools will open next month with a hybrid model.
Still to be determined: the elementary school schedule. Those students will still alternate between morning and afternoon sessions, but the original plan — to switch which youngsters are in which session every week — may not be utilized. The Board of Education put off a vote on the elementary schedule, pending a parent survey.
In related news: Coleytown Middle School will not be available to begin reopening until November 18. The first day for students will likely be after Thanksgiving.
Our rough roads are getting a bit better.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation has begun a milling and resurfacing project on 1.27 miles of the Post Road, from the Sherwood Island Connector to Maple Avenue.
Certain lanes will be closed from 7:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Work is expected to be done by August 31.
Sustainable Westport‘s food scrap recycling program got off to a great start.
In the first 3 weeks of the project — part of the town’s Zero Food Waste Challenge goal of decreasing residential food waste by at least 25% — Westporters dropped off 2 tons of food at the transfer station.
The site was temporarily closed to enable Department of Public Works staff to assist with cleanup after Tropical Storm Isaias.
Food scrap recycling will resume at the transfer station on the Sherwood Island Connector this Saturday (August 22).
To get a food scrap recycling starter kit, email zerowaste@sustainablewestport.org.
The Paparo family was the first to drop off food scraps for Sustainable Westport’s recycling project.
In other environmental news, Wakeman Town Farm is giving away its precious Brown Gold. The all-natural compost/fertilizer is rich in nutrients from WTF’s organic gardens, select organic veggie scraps, and animal manure.
In other words, it’s really good s—.
It’s also free. Just BYOB (bag or bucket), and haul away a load for your fall garden. It’s outside the red barn at 134 Cross Highway.
Wakeman Town Farm’s Brown Gold. BYOB (bag or bucket).
MoCA Westport is selling messenger bags, as a fundraiser.
But these are not glorified grocery bags, with “MoCA” stamped somewhere.
Made of high-quality material and featuring digitally printed artwork, they feature 10 local artists: Trace Burroughs, Yvonne Claveloux, Bethany Czarnecki, Susan Fehlinger, Jana Ireijo, Amy Kaplan, Susan Leggitt, Fruma Markowitz, Dale Najarian and Jay Petrow.
The bags are $200 each. But the opportunity to carry a handsome bag with great art, everywhere you go — while supporting an important Westport institution — is priceless. Click here to see all 10 bags, and purchase (at least) one.
The bag designed by Yvonne Claveloux.
And finally … on August 18, 1920 — exactly 100 years ago today — Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution. It was the 36th (and final) state needed, to ensure that women had the right to vote. Less than 3 months later, 26 million women were eligible to vote for the first time in a presidential election.
Every Photo Challenge has a back story. I wish I knew the one behind last week’s.
Downtown, a block of Post Road stores between Myrtle Avenue and Anthropologie (the old YMCA) seems to cut off access to Church Lane, and with it the Spotted Horse restaurant and the shops and galleries of Bedford Square.
Unless, that is, you know the “secret” short cut. A narrow alley slices alongside Urban Outfitters, connecting the 2 streets.
What’s more, the passageway is enlivened by some cool art. Most Westporters don’t know it’s there. But Tom Ryan, Andrew Colabella, Michael Calise, Stacie Curran and Seth Braunstein all identified it through Molly Alger’s reminiscent-of-an-island-somewhere photo. (Click here to see.)
How did the alley get there? Was it planned, or an accident? Who created the art — and was it sponsored or guerrilla? If you know the back story to this hidden downtown gem, let us know!
ProTip: There’s another shortcut between the Post Road and Church Lane too, just east of the alley: the parking garage. You can’t drive through anymore, but you can still walk it.
This week’s Photo Challenge is not exactly a shortcut. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
(Photo/John Videler for Videler Photography)
Posted in Downtown, Local business, Photo Challenge
Tagged Church Lane, Post Road, Urban Outfitters
The Post Road sure has changed in the century or so since this photo was taken.
Yet 100 years or so later, much of it still looks familiar.
Click on or hover over to enlarge.
In this west-looking view — provided by alert reader/amateur historian Mary Gai — we see the road median, beginning about where the new retail/ residential/office complex is at the foot of Long Lots Road.
Further along on the right is the current site of New Country Toyota, and other buildings that still remain.
At the crest of the hill, on the south (left) is Sakura’s predecessor. Cumberland Farms, Calise’s, a lumber store, small shopping center, Citgo and more have taken over the rest of that side — but the topography is the same. It’s easy to visualize what the Post Road (State Street/US 1) looked like then.
It’s much harder to imagine the almost total lack of traffic.
It’s frustrating enough to drive on the Post Road, and realize how out-of-sync the traffic lights are.
It’s even more frustrating to call Town Hall to complain, and be told: “Sorry. We can’t do anything. It’s a state road.”
Alert “06880” reader Josh Stein shares your frustration. Now he shares something else: a possible solution.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation offers an online form to report road issues.
The worst light in town? …
Some of the dropdown categories include mowing, illumination, potholes and dead animals.
But there — right in the middle of the menu — is “Traffic Signal Revisions.”
Click here for the form.
And remember: It’s not just the Post Road (Route 1) that’s a state road. Click here for a map showing all the others in town (they’re green).
There’s no guarantee that filling out the form will make anything happen.
There’s no guarantee anyone will even read it.
But it gives you something to do the next time you’re stuck at a mistimed, too long or otherwise frustrating light.
… or this one? Let the state DOT know!
Posted in Organizations, Transportation
Last Saturday’s traffic was INSANE. In late afternoon, it took one “06880” reader half an hour to travel from McDonald’s to downtown. Another spent 40 minutes getting from the Post Road to the train station.
Side roads were no better. Cars backed up on Cross Highway from Weston Road all the way to Bayberry Lane.
This was a particularly bad Thanksgiving weekend mess. But more and more, it’s the norm.
An alert “06880” who asked to be identified as GS has had enough. He writes:
I’ve lived in town a long time. I’ve seen the traffic get worse and worse.
You can’t get from here to there anymore. I envision a not-too-distant future in which our property values go down, because traffic has become what Westport is best known for.
One familiar scene …
Anyone who was on the road last Saturday around 6 p.m. can attest: You could have gotten where you were going faster walking than driving.
Do you commute to and from New York by car? It used to be that once you got past Stamford, you were home free. Now you spend 20 minutes just between exits 40 and 41 on the Merritt.
If you’re on I-95 and get off at Exit 17, you’re dead in the water. If you continue on to 18, there is a 5-minute backup on the exit ramp.
Heading from Cross Highway toward Exit 42 at the wrong time of day? That’s a joke. I could go on and on.
and another.
For starters, there has to be an immediate ban on development. More people equals more cars.
Then you have to systematically examine the traffic patterns of every intersection, and the timing of every light. Yes, I’m sorry, you will need to replace some of those stop signs with traffic lights.
A few traffic officers stationed in the right places at the right times of day would provide some relief.
We need a plan, and it has to start with limiting new buildings.
Maybe we need to form a special commission. Or perhaps appoint a traffic czar.
Whatever we decide, we have to do something. Traffic in Westport has reached a crucial point.
Posted in Transportation, Westport life
Tagged Cross Highway, Post Road, Westport traffic
Late afternoon sun reflects off Post Road wires (Photo/Johanna Rossi)
On July 8, representatives from Connecticut’s Department of Transportation gave a public presentation on proposed work on the Post Road. Much of it involves the stretch between Fresh Market, and the Roseville/Hillspoint Road intersection.
The $5.3 million project (80% federally funded, 20% state funds) would include special left-turn-only lanes, as well as traffic signals, curbing, curb ramps, sidewalks and crosswalks.
Proposals for the Post Road near Fresh Market.
Alert “06880” reader Jennifer Johnson agrees with many of the ideas. However, she also has concerns. She wrote the DOT about several, including the need for a sidewalk on the south side from Mitchells to the fire station, and care of the cherry trees in front of the Volvo dealer.
However, what really caught my eye was this:
Eliminate multiple single-property curb cuts. There are an excessive number of curb cuts (17) on both sides of the road, from the traffic light at Fresh Market to the light at Roseville/Hillspoint Road.
The number of curb cuts is a source of danger to people regardless of how they travel (foot, car or bicycle). Now is the time to correct problems that have evolved as the Post Road developed.
There are many ways in and out of the shopping centers, and adjacent lots.
I never thought about that — but now that I have, it makes a lot of sense.
Why do we need so many entrances and exits at Fresh Market? Across the street, there are also a number of ways to get into and out of the Dunkin’ Donuts/UPS Store/Westport Hardware/Mumbai Times lot. (No one ever calls it by its official no-meaning name, Village Center.)
There are other spots in town too with multiple entrances and exits, like Stop & Shop, and Aux Delices/Carvel/Stiles.
There are only a couple of ways in and out of the CVS/Trader Joe’s clusterf***. But at the end of her email, Jennifer notes that this intersection appears to have been ignored by DOT.
Finally, she asks that one person be appointed to oversee and coordinate all of DOT’s Westport projects (there are others besides the Fresh Market initiative).
Great idea! I nominate Jennifer Johnson for the job.
(For full details of the project on the Westport town website, click here. Questions about the Post Road project can be sent to the CT DOT project manager: Brian.Natwick@ct.com)
Proposed work at the Post Road/Roseville/Hillspoint intersection.
Chilling downtown (Photo/Katherine Bruan)
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