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WESTPORT, Conn. — A new crosswalk is slated to be installed at the Post Road East/Bulkley Avenue intersection in Westport, near where a pedestrian was fatally hit by a car last weekend, Westport state Sen. Toni Boucher said Tuesday evening in a statement.
“The need to fix this crossing issue is urgent,” Boucher, R-26th District, said in the statement. “I am told by officials at the Department of Transportation that a pedestrian crossing signal at that intersection, with push buttons to stop traffic and a crosswalk will be installed.
“Though not a permanent fix, the traffic signal at the mid-block site is something that the public has asked for and it appears the crossing will be put in place.”
Currently, a crosswalk is located on the west side of the intersection. The new crosswalk will be installed on the east side of the intersection.
These intersection improvements, estimated to cost $50,000, will be part of a larger traffic signal system overhaul planned for that area, Boucher said. Work on these improvements is expected to begin “soon” and should be completed sometime next year, she added.
A spokesman for the Department of Transportation could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.
Boucher’s announcement comes three days after 68-year-old Bruce Tabackman of Fairfield was fatally struck by a car. Tabackman was crossing the Post Road near Bulkley Avenue North, police said. He was not in the existing crosswalk at the time of the accident, police said.
Tabackman is the fourth pedestrian to be killed while crossing Post Road East since 2008. Westport resident William Ford, 49, was killed in December 2008 as he crossed near 1655 Post Road E. in a designated crosswalk.
In December 2010, 62-year-old resident Sharon Broecking was hit and killed as she crossed the Post Road at Westfair Drive in a designated crosswalk.
Also in December 2010, a 93-year-old Stamford man was struck in downtown Westport as he tried crossing the Post Road near Restoration Hardware. He died two weeks later from his injuries. Unlike Ford or Broecking, he was not in the designated crosswalk when he was hit, police said.
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