INTRODUCTION
Route 7 from Danbury to Norwalk is classified as part of the highest federal 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 for Route 7 in much of our area dates from 1928. Over the years, many spot improvements to the existing road have been made. Widening from 2 to 4 lanes from Route 35 in Ridgefield north to Miry Brook Road in Danbury will be completed as of late 2011.

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

In historical perspective, the Connecticut General Assembly first authorized expressway planning for the Route 7 Corridor in 1957. Then CT DOT approved an expressway alignment in 1962.

Expressway studies continued into the mid-1970's, when a federal environmental impact statement was issued. This was challenged, causing years of delay, then indefinite postponement of expressway 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 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, reenter 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 stub end 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. There are at present no plans at Conn DOT to revive the Route 7 Expressway construction proposal. And HVCEO no longer favors the proposal.

HVCEO ROUTE 7 EXPRESSWAY POLICY
HVCEO was for many years an advocate for Route 7 Expressway construction. However, after a policy review in 1995, the Council no longer supported construction of the expressway in Danbury, Ridgefield and Redding. The 1995 position has remained in place since that year.

It was initially 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 accelerate.

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 HVCEO Transportation Plan then deepened the opposition rationale by adding some broader policies. These were given even more depth by the 2004 Plan update and as of 2011 include:

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

2. Inducing sprawl development along the corridor and to the north, which violates the "Smart Growth" planning policies in the 2009 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 location in that area seek their housing location 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 workers at Greater Danbury's employment sites.

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 40 years ago, but is 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, there would be about a 33% increase in total travel in the corridor there if the expressway were built.

The 1978 Route 7 EIS recorded that "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."

HVCEO also endorses the CT DOT Route 7 Expressway assessment of 2007. Early in 2007 an update on Route 7 was prepared by Conn DOT for the General Assembly's Transportation Committee. Excerpts from that 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.”

For an opinion that contrasts with the HVCEO Route 7 perspective, visit the Committee for the Extension of Route 7. 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 2008: This document states that "The 2008 Town Plan strongly endorses major widening and capacity improvements in existing Routes 7 and 25, the principal arteries immediately west and east of Redding.

Maximizing the capacity of existing Route 7, in particular, will benefit the redevelopment of the center at Georgetown and alleviate traffic pressures on such secondary roads as Routes 107, 57 and 53.

Permanent abandonment of once-proposed plans for a "Super Seven" expressway is strongly endorsed by this Town Plan, consistent with similar recommendations by the HVCEO.

The reasons why a Super Seven expressway would be ill-advised, and plans for it should be permanently cancelled, are numerous and compelling. These include:

1. The route through Redding would traverse a much longer path across the Saugatuck River public water supply watershed with consequent adverse impact on the quality of this vital public water resource.

2. Projected traffic increase induced by an expressway, estimated at 33% in existing environmental impact statements, would intensify urban sprawl and decentralization of development in southwestern Connecticut and to the north, contrary to the "smart growth" principles which underlie both State and Regional plans for the area.

3. The excess of jobs over available housing which exists in the South Western Region will intensify housing pressures on Redding and other towns remote from employment centers, as an expressway promotes faster but longer commutation and results in housing shortages in outlying areas. Greater fuel consumption and loss of transportation efficiency are additional undesirable impacts.

4. An expressway "solution" to corridor transportation needs would not only be costly and environmentally destructive but would undercut public investments in urgently needed public transit facilities, such as an upgraded Danbury Branch rail line. An expressway entering I - 95 would exacerbate the current overflow of traffic on that highway."

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 Plan of 2010: According to page 13-4 of the 2010 Ridgefield Plan of Conservation and Development “New roads are not proposed in this Plan, aside from new subdivisions and possibly some improved connections or road extensions in Ridgefield Center.

The Planning and Zoning Commission, the town administration, and other town agencies have consistently reached consensus that the formerly proposed Super 7 Highway is not appropriate for Ridgefield. As indicated in Chapter 7 the future use for that corridor should be a greenway."

ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE EXISTING ROUTE 7
As of 2011 Route 7 from Route 35 in Ridgefield to the Route 7 Expressway segment in Danbury is being widened from two to four lanes and the alignment improved.

Additional widening, south of the intersection with Route 35 to the Wilton Line, is not supported by HVCEO. This policy is backed up by the technical analysis within the 2011 Route 7 Transportation and Land Use Study.

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.

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.

All three curb plans are now being updated by a consultant to HVCEO and will be completed in 2011.

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.

Visit the web site for this important transportation study at www.route7study.org.

Ridgefield recommendations from the 2011 report include 1) new signal and reconstruction at Route 7 with Old Town Road, 2) additional turn lanes and signal modifications at Route 7 and Route 102, 3) at the intersection of Route 7 with Route 35 geometric modifications to scale down the intersection, improve safety and better accommodate pedestrians, and 4) new signal and reconstruction at Route 7 intersection with the driveway to Ridgefield Crossing. Lane.

--- 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. ---

Support the construction of a multi - modal transportation center in the Branchville village area, as part of the future growth of that area which is bisected by Route 7.

--- Assess the Branchville Station area for potential for transit oriented development and provide a concept plan (below).

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

--- Part of the right of way owned by Conn DOT for a future Route 7 Expressway should be made available for an open space corridor to be known as the Sugar Hollow Greenway which shall also contain the Norwalk River Valley Trail.

--- 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.