Saugatuck River Bridge

The Saugatuck River Bridge is a bridge in Connecticut carrying Route 136 over the Saugatuck River in Westport. The bridge, built in 1884, is the oldest surviving movable bridge in Connecticut and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The total length of the bridge is 87.5 metres with a deck width of 6.1 metres and a minimum vertical clearance of 2.1 metres above the river. The bridge carries an average of about 16,000 vehicles per day. In 2007, the bridge was named the William F. Cribari Memorial Bridge.
In 1746, a ferry was established to carry traffic over the Saugatuck River near Westport, and around 1807 it was replaced by the first bridge as part of the old Connecticut Turnpike. By 1857 the need to replace this bridge was apparent, and the town spent a total of $22,500 in 1869 to build a wooden bridge in its place. Within the ten years it took to pay that bridge off, shipworms had rendered it nearly impassable, and Westport had to build another bridge over the Saugatuck. Five years later, in 1884, the town contracted with Union Bridge Company of Buffalo, New York, to build a wrought iron bridge. Union Bridge Company, a leading but short-lived pioneer in swing bridge construction, was the only company to submit a bid for the job. The new bridge cost $26,700, not including $362 to remove the shipworm-infested remains of the 1869 wooden bridge. The bridge is the oldest surviving movable bridge in Connecticut.

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