Contents
---
1. Introduction --- 2.
Roadway System
3a. I- 84 ---
3b.
RT 7 South --- 3c.
RT 7 North
4. Projects by Municipality --- 5.
Bus Plan --- 6.
Rail Plan
Other Elements 7a, 7b,
7c, 7d,
7e
--- 8.
Resource Center


Governor Jodi Rell at Route 7 Bypass
opening ceremony on
November 19, 2009. To rear from left are New Milford Mayor
Patricia Murphy, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, behind
Governor is Brookfield Selectman Jerry Murphy, State
Representative David Scribner, behind Rep. Scribner is DOT
Commissioner Joseph Marie, and State Senator Andrew Roraback.
HVCEO Photo by David Hannon
ROUTE
7 UPGRADE COMPLETED LATE 2009
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 all of the expressway in Danbury and then north to central
Brookfield was completed in 1977, the full expressway extension
to central New Milford was dropped from state and regional
plans in 1991.
In 1991
a less ambitious corridor upgrading plan was endorsed by Brookfield,
New Milford, HVCEO and Conn DOT. It called for a limited access
four lane Brookfield Bypass (detailed
map available) to continue on from central Brookfield
to the Brookfield-New Milford Town Line. This expressway extension
was completed in late 2009.
Conn DOT
projections of average daily traffic for 2012 are revealing
as to how volumes will change in central Brookfield once vehicular
traffic adjusts to the new Route 7 Bypass:
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.
After
the new Route 7 Bypass rejoins existing Route 7 near the Brookfield
- New Milford Town Line, the existing Route 7 roadway has
been widened to four lanes.
This includes a 20 foot grass median, up to the Lanesville
Road intersection in southern New Milford. There are several
breaks in the median to allow vehicles to reverse direction
as needed.

Widened
Route 7 has 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 has been expanded to four lanes
without a median.

The
map on the right 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 map at left shows travel times
without the
Expressway. The ten minute contour lines reach further north
with
the expressway, affecting the spread and intensity of land
use. The final
plan, a combination of partial expressway and widening,
provides most of these time - access benefits.
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
demonstrated above serves that 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 here.
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. Public interest in proceeding with
this project remains to be determined.
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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