ROUTE 7 UPGRADE IN PROGRESS
Dating from the mid-fifties, a Route 7 Expressway had been planned as a replacement for the Danbury to New Milford portion of the two lane Route 7. While parts of the upgrading in Danbury and Brookfield were completed in 1977, the full expressway extension to central New Milford is no longer a part of state, regional or local plans.

The current corridor upgrading plan was endorsed in 1991 by Brookfield, New Milford, HVCEO and Conn DOT. It calls for a limited access four lane Brookfield Bypass (detailed map available at 1.3 MB) to continue on from central Brookfield to just the Brookfield-New Milford Town Line. This project is in design.

Conn DOT projections of average daily traffic for the year 2012 are revealing as to how volumes will change in central Brookfield once the new Route 7 Bypass is in place.

Without the Bypass, the 15,000 daily vehicles traveling north on the Route 7 Expressway will as now all exit to combined Routes 7 and 202. But with the Route 7 Bypass in place the northbound exit volume of 15,000 falls to 7,250, the remainder of 7,750 remaining on the new northbound Route 7 Bypass.

Just north of the current Route 7 Expressway terminus northbound Route 7 traffic is mixed with volumes from Route 202. The traffic projection here for 2012 estimates this northbound volume as 18,700 without the Bypass and 9,050 if it is built, a drop of just more than 50%.

This drop in volume will continue on “old” Route 7 thru the Four Corners - Route 25 intersection area. Conn DOT anticipates that once the Bypass is built then northbound volumes just south of the signal at Route 25 will be reduced by 60%, and then north of Route 25 reduced by close to 70%.

Looking at the total volume for both directions on Route 7 north of the Four Corners, the 2012 volume without the Bypass is projected to be 29,900. But with the diversion provided by the parallel Bypass this falls to a much lesser 9,700.

Once the new Bypass rejoins existing Route 7 near the Brookfield - New Milford Town Line the existing Route 7 roadway will be widened to four lanes, with a 20 foot grass median, up to the Lanesville Road intersection in southern New Milford. As of May 3, 2005 this widening is under construction. There will be several breaks in the median to allow vehicles to reverse direction as needed.

Groundbreaking for widening of Lanesville section of Route 7
on May 3, 2005. From left State Representative Clark Chapin,
New Milford Mayor Patricia Murphy, Governor Jodi Rell, State
Senator Andrew Roraback. Photo courtesy of the New Milford Times.

Widened Route 7 will have a 20 foot
grassed median thru southern New Milford

Then from Lanesville Road to Veterans Bridge in Central New Milford, the widened Route 7 roadway will have four lanes without a median. As of May 2005 this widening is partially complete.

The map above identified current travel time in ten minute intervals
from I-84 Exit 7 north towards New Milford. The ten minute line (brown)
is south of the New Milford town boundary and the twenty minute
line (red) is south of the New Milford Town Center.

In contrast to the top map, this second map projects future travel time
in ten minute intervals from I-84 Exit 7 north towards New Milford if
the entire Route 7 Expressway had been built. The ten minute line (brown)
reaches will into New Milford and the twenty minute line (red)
well past New Milford Center. The current plan, a combination of
Expressway extension and widening, will provide
much of this time savings benefit.

The long term economic development strategy for the region has been to better position New Milford to be more accessible to the economIc stimulus of nearby I-84. The changes in travel times discussed above will nicely serve this objective.

FUTURE ROUTE 7 DEVELOPMENT IN BROOKFIELD
On Brookfield's portion of the completed Route 7 Expressway is an overpass carrying Route 133. HVCEO Bulletin 80, dated 12/1994 and addressing Brookfield’s Federal Road traffic issues, reviewed the concept of adding ramps from and to the Route 7 Expressway to Route 133 at this location.

That study indicated a proposed interchange could be oriented to and from the south, essentially a half interchange, and would reduce traffic on nearby Federal Road and its busy intersections.

The new new ramps would be a spur to economic development and motorists using the ramps would reduce their travel time.

The new Route 7 as it will look through Brookfield. At Route 133
(yellow area and circle) Brookfield proposes to add a half
interchange with Route 7 ramps to and from the south.

The 2001 Brookfield, CT Plan of Conservation and Development specifically endorses construction of the new interchange at Route 133 (Brookfield Plan excerpt shown above). The Brookfield Plan recommends that Conn DOT "construct a partial interchange at Route 133 to relieve traffic heading easterly, provide better access for the business zoned land in this part of the corridor, and provide a convenient access point for emergency vehicles."

Detailed feasibility of this Route 133 interchange concept remains to be explored. However, this cannot occur until current Route 7 improvements in the vicinity are completed, as traffic projections based upon current volumes and turning movement patterns would not be valid until after those new facilities are in operation.

FUTURE ROUTE 7 DEVELOPMENT IN NEW MILFORD
From 1972 to 1991 a much needed new Housatonic River crossing in Central New Milford was part of the official Conn DOT Route 7 Expressway construction plan. But when the current policy for Route 7 improvement in New Milford was announced by Conn DOT on 11/26/1991 this additional river crossing had been dropped.

The Route 7 Expressway bridging plan would have greatly aided local traffic circulation around New Milford Center . Since then other traffic strategies have been pursued and others remain under discussion.

Various lesser options to bridge the Housatonic, such as a westerly
extension of Bennitt Street above, have been discussed over the
years as replacements for the original 1972-1991 Route 7 bridging plan.

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