INTRODUCTION
Route 7 from Danbury to Norwalk is classified as part of the highest roadway functional level, the National Highway System. From the state perspective It is a principal arterial roadway and is the Greater Danbury Region’s main link to the south. On a grander scale, it is also the primary north-south corridor for the western edge of New England.

The basic alignment and cross section in our area dates from 1928. Over the years, many spot improvements to the existing road have been made.

More significantly, a new Route 7 Expressway parallel to the old road was advocated by Conn DOT and HVCEO for many years. Only short sections of the parallel expressway in Danbury and Norwalk were ever completed.

In historical perspective, the Connecticut General Assembly first authorized expressway planning in this corridor IN 1957. Then Conn DOT approved an expressway location in 1962.

Studies continued into the mid-1970's, when a federal environmental impact statement was issued. This was challenged, first causing years of delay, then indefinite postponement of construction. A map of the proposed Route 7 Expressway concept will be of interest.

This major new road would have entered Ridgefield from Wilton to the west of the present Route 7. Route 102 runs generally east-west here, and a full expressway interchange with Route 102 was planned.

Continuing northeast, the Expressway would have crossed the existing Route 7, briefly entered Redding, then turned north by northwest to follow the Ridgefield-Redding border, re-entering Ridgefield briefly and then entering Redding again.

Upon passing into Danbury from Redding, another interchange was to link the Expressway to existing Route 7 in Ridgefield. The new road was then to continue along the east side of existing Route 7 to meet the existing Route 7 Expressway cross section at Wooster Heights Road in Danbury.

Due to funding constraints, by 1992 completion of the proposed expressway was under reconsideration by Conn DOT. A Conn DOT policy statement released in early 1993 stated that the expressway would still be built, but would be delayed at least 10 years. The exception was a small segment linking northern Norwalk to southern Wilton.

There are at present no plans at Conn DOT to revive the Route 7 Expressway construction proposal.

ANTI-ROUTE 7 EXPRESSWAY POLICY
HVCEO was for many years an advocate of Route 7 Expressway construction. However, after a policy review in 1995, HVCEO no longer supported the construction of the proposed Route 7 Expressway in Danbury, Ridgefield and Redding.

This 1995 position was taken due to the repeated delays in the construction of the proposed Expressway and the concurrent invalidation of the Environmental Impact Statement justifying the project, as well as the lack of safety and capacity improvements on the existing Route 7 roadway, which HVCEO wished to speed.

This change in policy was intended to fully focus all available funding on the immediate improvements required to address safety and capacity constraints on existing Route 7. Since under federal law Conn DOT cannot proceed without regional approval, the HVCEO policy is more than advisory as far as the Expressway is concerned.

The 2001 Regional Transportation Plan then added some broader policy as to the reasons the Council no longer supported construction. These were given even more depth by the 2004 Plan update and now include:

1. Negative impact to the adjacent quality of life, both residential and natural environment.

2. Inducing sprawl development along the corridor and to the north, which violates the "Smart Growth" planning policies in the 1997 HVCEO Regional Plan.

3. The nearby South Western Planning Region is a high income area (see overview map) where affordable housing is in very short supply. As a result, many persons with their employment in that area seek their housing to the east along I-95 or to the north up Route 7.

This mismatch intensifies the competition for scarce affordable housing in the Greater Danbury Area. Evidence is past housing studies and a pattern of one sided commuting patterns of much AM southbound commuting from Greater Danbury, greatly exceeding AM northbound. It is therefore projected that faster access via a Route 7 Expressway would reduce the supply of affordable housing in Greater Danbury available to Greater Danbury's workers.

4. The inability of coastal Interstate 95, already over capacity, to absorb a newly concentrated and expanded AM peak period traffic flow that would enter southbound from the new Route 7 Expressway. Absorption of our traffic onto I-95 may have been possible 30 years ago, but is clearly problematic today.

For some detail on this key point, consider that the 1978 Route 7 Environmental Impact Statement projected that, taking as a specific point of reference the cross section of the proposed Expressway just north of the intersection of Routes 7 and 35 in Ridgefield, that there would be about a 33% increase in total travel in the corridor here if the Expressway were built.

A 1981 HVCEO summary of the 1978 EIS records "This increase will be due to traffic that is diverted from existing streets in the corridor because of the ease of travel and time savings due to the new facility, and a rerouting of existing shopping, business and other trips to alternate destinations due to a shift in the relative ease of travel."

While pro-expressway groups might well discount point one above as "just the standard local reaction of the NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) syndrome", points two thru four are systemic issues that they need to address in their arguments.

For a web site that contrasts with the HVCEO Route 7 perspective, visit the Committee for the Extension of Route 7. For an anti-expressway opinion see the Road to Ruin site. Also of interest is an independently produced history of planning for and upgrading of Route 7.

ROUTE 7 POLICIES WITHIN MUNICIPAL PLANS
Danbury City Plan of 2002: There is no support for the proposed Route 7 Expressway in the Danbury Plan. The Plan constrains Route 7 changes to "Support plans to widen U.S. Route 7 south to Ridgefield and to undertake other planned intersection and geometric improvements."

Redding Town Plan of 1998: The Redding Plan states that "unlike local town roads, where the goal is to minimize traffic impacts in order to support preservation of the town's essential characteristics, the traffic capacity of existing Route 7 should be maximized to allow the road to absorb local and connector traffic and prevent overflow on to secondary roads such as Routes 107 and 53."

Continuing, "The Redding Planning Commission thus strongly supports major widening and capacity improvements on existing Route 7 and 25, the principal north-south arteries immediately west and east of the Town and continues to recommend that plans for 'Super 7' be abandoned."

In 2005 the Town of Redding was presented with a
prestigious National Award for Smart Growth Achievement
in the Small Communities category by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency for the above Georgetown Redevelopment Project,
which will make use of both Route 7 and the Danbury Branch Rail Line.

Ridgefield Town Plans of 1999 and Branchville Supplement of 2002: According to page 33 of the 1999 Ridgefield Plan of Conservation and Development “Greenbelts are an important part of the Plan of Conservation & Development. Such a system will enhance the value of existing open space areas by interconnecting them and providing new opportunities for wildlife habitat, recreational use, community character, and quality of life.

One example of this concept is the Sugar Hollow Greenway. Proposed as part of the Connecticut State Greenway System, Sugar Hollow is envisioned as a linear series of interconnected open space parcels, beginning in the Sugar Hollow region of Danbury, and extending southward through Redding, Ridgefield and Wilton to Norwalk.”

Continuing “Much, if not most, of the land proposed for the Sugar Hollow Greenway is presently owned by the State of Connecticut, it having been acquired formerly when a proposed Route 7 Expressway had been considered viable.

The Ridgefield Planning & Zoning Commission has since eliminated the proposed Route 7 Expressway from this Plan and has endorsed the Sugar Hollow Greenway. Accordingly, dialogue with the State should be pursued to determine the most appropriate and effective means for transferring and dedicating former expressway parcels to the Sugar Hollow Greenway.”

Before and after views from Ridgefield's Route 7
oriented 2002 Branchville Village Plan

As for the 2002 Town Plan Supplement concerning Route 7 at Ridgefield's Branchville section, From the Wilton Town Line northerly to Route 102, the HVCEO policy is to "initiate only those Route 7 capacity improvements sanctioned by Ridgefield’s 2002 Branchville Village Plan, as incorporated into the 1999 Town Plan by the Ridgefield Planning and Zoning Commission."

CONN DOT 2/2007 COMMENT
ON THE ROUTE 7 EXPRESSWAY
Early in 2007 an update on Route 7 was prepared by Conn DOT for the General Assembly’s Transportation Committee. Excerpts from the 2/16/2007 statement concerning the Route 7 Expressway are as follows:

“While recognizing the need for an expressway based on traffic volumes, the Department does not propose to extend the Route 7 expressway north of its current terminus at Grist Mill Road in Norwalk.

The concept of extending the Route 7 expressway in problematic for a number of reasons. During the development of the various planning and environmental studies, the Department has met on many occasions with the public and local officials to obtain input in the planning process for the future of the Route 7 corridor. During this process, it became apparent that there is much local opposition to build an expressway in the towns of Wilton, Redding and Ridgefield.

While the Department owns rights of way purchased for the Route 7 corridor in Norwalk and Wilton, much of this land is now being used for recreational purposes by local municipalities. The Department does not own substantial right of way in the Route 7 corridor north of Ridgefield.”

Continuing, “The lapse of time since the 1978 EIS and the potential of impacting what are now areas used for recreational purposes would require the Department to undertake completely new planning studies which would include numerous new alternatives. Completing the planning studies, the NEPA/CEPA documentation and the design of such a facility could take up to 10 years prior to construction.

Other factors which make studying a freeway on new location in the Route 7 corridor problematic include; the difficulty of obtaining the required federal and state environmental permits, potential impact to the numerous residential areas in the corridor, potential impact to sensitive cultural resources such as the J. Alden Weir National Historic Site and potential impacts to environmentally sensitive resources.

Regardless of the alternative selected, the Department would still have to, at the very least, purchase right of way acquisition north of Ridgefield. Rights of way costs combined with construction costs could approach $1 billion.”

ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE EXISTING ROUTE 7
Up until December of 1999 Conn DOT remained committed to completion of a small segment of the Route 7 Expressway from its current northern terminus at Grist Mill Road in Norwalk to a new northern terminus at Route 33 in southern Wilton.

But Governor Rowland announced in December of 1999 that, due to local opposition, widening of the existing Route 7 northward to Route 33 would replace the proposed parallel Route 7 Expressway extension plan. Thus as of 2007 the Route 7 Expressway has been dropped from both the plans of Conn DOT and HVCEO.

The Route 7 policies of the adjacent South Western Regional Planning Agency as of 2004 are as follows:

--- Support improvements to existing Route 7 between the Route 7 Expressway terminus at Grist Mill Road, Norwalk, and Route 33, Wilton (Project 102-305); and, the widening of Route 7 in Wilton further north to Olmstead Hill Road {near the Cannondale Railroad Station} (Projects 161-118,124).

--- Conduct a needs assessment of the Route 7 corridor between Olmstead Hill Road in Wilton and Route 35 in Ridgefield to establish an implementation program for operational, intersection, safety, access management, multimodal and streetscaping enhancements. This assessment should be a cooperative effort of Conn DOT, SWRPA and HVCEO within a framework of sensitive design.

--- The SWRPA Congestion Mitigation Systems Plan “Vision 2020” Final Report (2003) recommended support for plans to widen Route 7 to a four-lane arterial with full roadside access from Wilton to Danbury.

--- A future unfunded project to to build the Route 7 expressway to Danbury.

Leaders kick off the widening of Route 7 between Danbury and Ridgefield on
August 15, 2005. From left are Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi, Ridgefield
State Representative John Frey, Governor Jodi Rell, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton,
and Conn DOT Commissioner Stephen Korta. Photo courtesy of the News Times.

Back in the Housatonic Valley Region, in Ridgefield and Danbury, as of 2007 Route 7 is being widened from two to four lanes and the alignment improved.

It should also be noted that HVCEO completed a driveway and curb cut management plan for Route 7 in Danbury, Redding and Ridgefield in 1996. The Redding and Ridgefield portions of the plan were thereafter incorporated as site plan standards into the zoning regulations of those communities.

As for HVCEO's Route 7 improvement policies, the following will be pursued:

--- In cooperation with SWRPA and Conn DOT, conduct a needs assessment of the Route 7 corridor between Olmstead Hill Road in Wilton and Route 35 in Ridgefield to establish an implementation program for operational, intersection, safety, access management, multimodal and streetscaping enhancements, all within a framework of sensitive design.

--- Support the construction of a multi-modal transportation center in the Georgetown village area, as part of the redevelopment of that area which is immediately adjacent to Route 7. The multi - modal center will be located on the Wilton - Redding Town Line and include pedestrian and bicycle access, bus and rail transit services, and parking.

--- Assess the Branchville Station area for potential for transit oriented development.

--- Update Route 7 curb cut management plans in Danbury, Ridgefield and Redding.

--- The right of way owned by Conn DOT for a future Route 7 Expressway should instead be used for a pedestrian path to be known as the Sugar Hollow Greenway

--- Both the Ives Trail and the the Norwalk River Watershed Trails System crossing of Route 7 are pedestrian movements to be taken into consideration in future Route 7 planning.

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