A section of Cross Highway, which is one of the busier streets in Westport, will have to be closed this summer while a bridge is replaced.

The town says it was already doing work to add more signage and lights at the intersection of Cross Highway and North Avenue, as well as at Cross Highway and Bayberry Lane, while also building a sidewalk on Cross Highway between the two intersections.

"When our traffic and pedestrian safety group got together, this was one that was very high on the list," said Keith Wilberg, the town engineer at the Westport Department of Public Works.

Aside from getting enough car traffic for Wilberg to call it one of the busier roads in town, the stretch also has both Staples High School and Bedford Middle School near it, along with Wakeman Town Farm.

"A lot of kids are walking or running along the road here, and you can see it's pretty narrow, I mean there's no elbow on the side of the road," said Caren Carlson, who lives on Cross Highway.

As part of the safety project on the road, Wilberg says the town saw a chance to knock something else off its list, and replace the stone bridge over Deadman Brook, which town officials say is more than 100 years old, and likely more than 50 years past its expected lifespan.

"There's just no fixing it," said Wilberg, who says the bridge has developed hollow spots inside it. "It's not imminently going to fall next week or next year, but it's in pretty bad shape."

Wilberg says it could however reach a critical situation within the next few years, and the town wanted to replace it before it started showing real issues.

While the actual road size will not be changing, the new bridge will be five feet wider than the old one, allowing the town to add a sidewalk, which will then connect to the one being built on the rest of the street.

"If you go out there now, you see joggers and other people kind of taking their life in their hands when they go off the bridge," said Wilberg. "It's pretty dangerous."

"It seems like a good thing, and a necessary thing," agreed Carlson.

In most cases, Wilberg says to build a bridge like this, the road would need to be shut down for between six and eight months.

However, because of how busy the road is, the town came up with a plan to do it in just July and August.

"We're going to have pre-cast concrete, basically very large LEGO blocks is how I like to call it," Wilberg explained, "and they're going to be built and delivered, and literally take the old bridge out, and put the new pieces in."

If all goes well, the road will be back open in time for the new school year, when traffic is busiest.

"It will be annoying, but it will be something to deal with that will definitely be beneficial in the end," Carlos said.

The town says it has a full detour mapped out for while the road is closed, which has been fully vetted by both the police and fire departments, and that will have plenty of signage, making it easy to follow.