Tag Archives: Wilton Road

Roundup: Flooding, Northern Lights …

Posted on March 10, 2024 | 6 comments

Yesterday’s rain was an annoyance to many Westporters.

To residents of Saugatuck Shores, it meant another high tide flood.

This was the scene looking north on Canal Road:

(Photo/Matt Fortuna)

A few hours later, Canal Road looked like this:

(Photo/Yulee Aronson)

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The Brubeck Brothers Quartet rocked the Westport Library last night, for a special fundraiser. Proceeds support the Library’s vast array of free programs and offerings.

The Brubeck Brothers Quartet is led by Chris (bass and trombone) and Dan Brubeck (drums), sons of the jazz legend who lived in Wilton. They recorded their first album in 1966. Rounding out the group is guitarist Mike DeMicco and pianist Chuck Lamb.

Chris told stories about the family. Home movies added to the warm atmosphere.

The group has performed across North America and Europe, including Newport, Detroit, Montreal, The Hollywood Bowl, and Monterey Jazz festivals.

Now they can add the Westport Library to the list.

Brubeck Brothers Quartet, at the Westport Library. (Photo/Dinkin Fotografix)

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Last year, 7-year-old Evelyn Sullivan was a leading participant in the Westport Weston Family YMCA Race4Chase triathlon training program. It honors Chase Kowalski, a victim of the Sandy Hook shooting.

Head coach Robin Myers worked with Evelyn and 18 other youngsters, strengthening their swimming, biking and running skills, while they enjoyed team building and learned about nutrition.

Evelyn and her mother Sarah raised over $700 for the Chase Michael Anthony Kowalski Foundation. Illness and bad weather kept her from her first 2 triathlons, but she’s resilient. She’s ready for this summer.

The Race4Chase program returns to the Y this summer — at no cost to participants. It runs 5 days a week from June 24 to August 2, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For more information, and registration, click here.

Westport Y 2023 Race4Chase triathlon program participants.

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Sure, the new apartments going up on Wilton Road at Kings Highway North corner have everyone talking about the massive change coming to the already congested intersection, a few yards from wetlands.

But it wouldn’t be worth an “06880” photo without the massive amount of utility lines, hanging all around the site.

(Photo/Terry Brannigan)

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In the waning days of winter, “Northern Lights” come to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport.

That’s the name of a concert this Friday (March 15, 7:30 p.m.). It features choral and bell music inspired by the Northern Lights, stars and sky, plus music and composers from northern countries.

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door; click here to purchase. Children and students are free.

Northern Lights

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We’re a long way from Thanksgiving.

But yesterday was Turkey Day at St. Vincent’s Health Services on Long Lots Road.

Meredith Holod caught all the action, for our “Westport … Naturally” feature.

(Photo/Meredith Holod)

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And finally … in honor of yesterday’s flock (photo above):

(“06880” is your hyper-local blog — and we rely on reader support. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)

6 Comments

Posted in Children, Entertainment, Library, religion, Sports, YMCA

Tagged Brubeck Brothers Quartet, Canal Road, Saugatuck Shores, Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport, Wilton Road

Friday Flashback #386

Posted on February 16, 2024 | 8 comments

Tuesday’s weather — the first significant snowfall in over 2 years — reminded us that despite climate change, we still can get whacked.

There was a lot more snow in the 1930s, when this photo was taken. It was before 1938 — the year the Merritt Parkway opened, which itself was 20 years prior to I-95 (known then as the Connecticut Turnpike or “Thruway”).

The Post Road was the only way to drive between New York and New Haven (and points beyond, like Hartford and Boston). Traffic — including trucks — was terrible, folks who remember those days say.

Our current woes, in other words, are not new.

Look closely at the vehicles in the image above. They had none of the modern safety features we rely on today. You needed chains on tires. Wipers, heaters and defrosters worked poorly.

It didn’t look the plow guys had been out, either.

So the next time you’re stuck at that terrible Post Road West/Riverside Avenue/ Wilton Road corner, think about those folks in the 1930s.

It was a long way to Boston.

(Friday Flashback is a weekly “06880” feature. We also regularly cover transportation news. If you enjoy it — or anything else we do — please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

8 Comments

Posted in Friday Flashback, Transportation

Tagged Post Road East, Riverside Avenue, Wilton Road

Many Hands Make Lights Work

Posted on July 20, 2021 | 26 comments

During COVID, Westport’s eerily empty streets were a joy to drive.

A sad joy, to be sure. The other side of our unimpeded ride was knowing that so many friends and neighbors were stuck home, inside, with nowhere at all to go.

Now — thanks to vaccinations, warm weather and pandemic fatigue — traffic is back.

And it’s worse than ever.

For hours a day, backups stretch everywhere: from Route 1 and 33 almost to Fresh Market. Canal and Main Streets. All of Saugatuck.

No one can say for sure why it’s this bad. But driving in Westport really, really sucks.

Waiting in line at the Imperial Avenue light. (Photo/Dick Lowenstein)

With time on my hands the other day — I wasn’t going anywhere — I tried to think of solutions.

I wouldn’t wish another townwide quarantine on anyone. Banning Waze is not an option. (I’m as hypocritical as the rest of Westport: I happily use the app to avoid highway traffic by driving through other towns.)

So I did the next best thing. I came up with a few ideas.

For example:

Alternate red and green lights at both Wilton Road and Riverside Avenue. The awkward dance between cars heading northbound and southbound doesn’t work. One car trying to turn left from Wilton Road onto the Post Road — or left from Riverside onto Post Road West — can hold up a dozen cars behind it. So why not have green for only northbound traffic; then only green for southbound traffic; followed by what we’ve got now (first a “left turn only” for eastbound and westbound drivers, then a full green for both).

What’s the holdup? Some dude at the front of this line, trying to turn left onto the Post Road. (Photo/David Waldman)

Add a “left turn only” for drivers on South Compo, going westbound on Bridge Street. Traffic now routinely backs up under the railroad bridge.

At the same time, change the timing of the light. It’s too long for Greens Farms Road and Bridge Street drivers, not long enough for those on Compo South. (I know; a long light helps ease traffic on Greens Farms and Bridge Street when it’s backed up with I-95 overflow. Maybe shorter lights would effect Waze’s algorithm of suggesting that as an alternate route.)

A “left-turn only” arrow from South Compo to Bridge Street will make traffic flow as easily as it appears in this image from Google Maps.

Reconfigure the turning lane from Kings Highway North (where the Willows/ “Fort Apache” medical complex is on the right), onto Wilton Road. Right now the right lane is for right turns and cars going straight on Kings Highway. When one car in that lane heads straight, no one behind can turn right on red. Make the left lane for left turns and straight ahead; the right lane should be “right on red” only.

Another reason Kings Highway North should be “right turn on red” only: The left lane lines up more directly with its continuation past Wilton Road.

All of these ideas are beyond the scope of Westport officials. They’re state roads. So yeah, I know, I have a better chance of walking to the planet Zork than I do of seeing meaningful traffic light changes.

But a boy can dream.

(Do you have an idea for easing Westport’s traffic woes? Click “Comments” below. It won’t do any good — but at least “06880” readers can appreciate your brilliance.)

26 Comments

Posted in Transportation, Westport life

Tagged Bridge Street, Green's Farms Road, Post Road, Riverside Avenue, South Compo Road, Wilton Road

Be Careful Out There!

Posted on July 9, 2021 | 8 comments

The flash flooding warnings were spot on.

Several roads in Westport — the usual suspects, and others less prone to flooding — are underwater right now.

And the tide is coming in.

Wilton Road, near OKO. (Photo/Frank Rosen)

8 Comments

Posted in Weather

Tagged flooding, Wilton Road

Photo Challenge #292

Posted on August 2, 2020 | 10 comments

On a hot Sunday last week, “06880” offered a cool view.

Harrison Gordon’s image showed the back of a Wilton Road house, near the Kings Highway North intersection. The view was from across the Saugatuck River, by Parker Harding Plaza. (Click here to see.)

The home was designed to maximize its view. As Harrison’s photo shows, it sure does.

Wendy Cusick, Bob Grant, Susan Iseman, Rich Stein, Andrew Colabella, Ralph Balducci, Diane Silfen, James Weisz, Seth Schachter, Ken Gilbertie, PK Cleary, Lynn Untermeyer Miller and Mary Ann Batsell all nailed this one. Congrats!

Before moving on to this week’s Photo Challenge, here’s a note on the one before last. It featured “Alvord Beach” — the name of Sherwood Island State Park’s East Beach, which virtually no one has ever heard of (or used). No one around here has ever heard of “Alvord,” either.

But MaryAnn Meyer — who lives not far from Sherwood Island — found an “Alvord Genealogy” online. It mentions Nelson Alvord’s home at 295 Greens Farms Road.

Nelson Alvord began a carriage-making business in Torrington, in 1835. The genealogy notes:

He was a pioneer in shipping top vehicles to Ga. These were used for distributing merchandise through the country long before the advent of railroads in that section of the South.

He built up a large business, probably the largest in the state, employing at times 125 men. Before the railroad was built through the Naugatuck Valley, he had to transport his wagons by team to New Haven, thence by water to Savannah, Ga. He continued in active business until he retired in 1863, and removed to Green’s Farms, Conn., on the shore of Long Island Sound.

See you at Alvord Beach!

Meanwhile, see if you can identify this week’s Photo Challenge. If you know where in Westport this is, click “Comments” below.

(Photo/Lee Scharfstein)

10 Comments

Posted in Beach, Downtown, Environment, Photo Challenge

Tagged Alvord Beach, Saugatuck River, Sherwood Island State Park, Wilton Road

Pic Of The Day #1106

Posted on April 27, 2020 | 5 comments

Intriguing lines, at the Post Road West/Wilton Road intersection (Photo/John Videler for Videler Photography)

5 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Pic of the Day

Tagged Post Road West, Wilton Road

A Bridge To Somewhere

Posted on July 18, 2019 | 31 comments

The other evening, KMS Partners threw a fundraiser for Food Rescue US.

Food trucks and a band filled the site of the former Save the Children building, on Wilton Road. Next to the real estate firm’s new headquarters, it’s the future site of an architecturally intriguing 12-unit condo complex.

As I sat next to the Saugatuck River — the sun setting, and downtown beckoning just across the way — I thought, “It’s so close. Wouldn’t it be nice to walk there?”

Parker Harding Plaza, from the west bank of the Saugatuck River. (Photo/Dan Woog)

I could have used the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge, of course. But the Post Road span is not pedestrian friendly. And it deposits you at the dicey, traffic-filled intersection with Parker Harding Plaza.

Once upon a time, there was discussion of fora pedestrian-only bridge. It was part of David Waldman’s plan to develop that Save the Children site.

Working with Roger Ferris + Partners architects, he wanted to move the house — at that point, a former yarn shop — at Wilton Road/Post Road West — to the Save the Children property. That would provide room for a turning lane at one of the state’s worst intersections.

As part of the plan, Waldman offered $100,000 toward the engineering and design of a pedestrian-only pontoon bridge.

The town rejected the idea. The developer reworked certain aspects of his design. The office portion has now been built. The condos are next.

But the landing area on the Wilton Road side is still available. A bridge could still be built, providing relaxing access from another point between the river’s west bank, and downtown. It could connect to Gorham Island, or perhaps the walkway near Rye Ridge Deli.

The walkway near Rye Ridge Deli could be one end of a pedestrian bridge across the Saugatuck River.

It’s not a novel concept. The Westport Arts Center once proposed a bridge from its then-headquarters on Riverside Avenue, to the library and Levitt Pavilion on the other side.

There are great spots to eat and shop on both sides of the river. But Westporters and visitors tend to think of them as 2 separate places.

A pedestrian bridge between Wilton Road and Parker Harding would probably cost $500,000 to $1 million.

Is the idea worth pursuing? If not, what’s another way to tie the energy and attractions of the quickly growing west bank to the close-but-sometimes-seems-so-far “downtown”?

What do you think? Click “Comments” below. We want your thoughts!

31 Comments

Posted in Downtown, People, Real estate

Tagged David Waldman, Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge, Saugatuck River, Save the Children property, Wilton Road

Famous Westport Building Bites The Dust

Posted on October 12, 2018 | 34 comments

First it was world headquarters for the Famous Artists School. Joined later by Famous Writers and Famous Photographers Schools, it made Westport known all over the globe — on matchbox covers and magazine ads — as the place to send your artwork, writing and photos to become, well, famous.

Not.

Later it served as world headquarters for Save the Children.

Today, alert “06880” reader (and locally famous photographer) Chip Stephens was across the Saugatuck River, when the 60-year-old Wilton Road building was demolished.

The long view …

The site is being developed by David Waldman into a retail, restaurant and residential complex.

… and a closeup. (Photos/Chip Stephens)

34 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Looking back, People, Real estate

Tagged David Waldman, Famous Artists School, Famous Photographers School, Famous Writers School, Save the Children, Wilton Road

Friday Flashback #61

Posted on October 13, 2017 | 11 comments

Westporters have watched with interest as renovations begin on 1 Wilton Road.

That’s the quaint little building squatting underneath the massive Wright Street office project.

Today it’s one of the many frustrating reasons for back-ups at the Post Road West/Riverside Avenue intersection. Plans to move the building to create a turning lane have been rejected (perhaps to rise again, in the future).

Once upon a time, that section of town was less chaotic. Back in the day, a man could stroll down the middle of State Street — past a still-familiar streetscape that includes National Hall (now The ‘Port restaurant).