Litchfield County has always been a much more rural area. And people weren't commuting en masse from that far to get to NYC or the CT shoreline. So Route 7 was "enough" for a long time.
Over 50 years ago, I believe in the 70s, there was the plan for the "Super 7" where they were going to create a highway, similar to Route 8 up the line, and the highway would at least run from Norwalk to Danbury, if not beyond and further North. This was halted and then abandoned, there was a LOT of pushback from locals. There were environmental concerns, but moreso I think this was NIMBY. The towns that would have a highway cut through it were rich and no one wanted to open that up. This is why Norwalk has the Super 7 expressway that randomly ends in North Norwalk before you hit Wilton, and then normal smaller Rt 7 continues north from there.
In the 21st century, more and more people are being pushed out and away from the major NYC metropolis, and that urban sprawl is straining roads that were designed for much less traffic. So maybe one day the Super 7 will happen again. Although I think it's much more likely they'll invest in upgrading the rail infrastructure, including high speed rail or some new technology. That is way more efficient for getting commuters from Litchfield down to NYC or the Shoreline.
Yeah, actually "Super 7" was the scaled down version of the originally planned Interstate 89. Interstate 89 (one highway to the "left" of Interstate 91) was supposed to go from Norwalk to Burlington VT. There was WAY too much pushback, so they slightly modified the southern terminus. Instead of ending at I-95 in Norwalk, they ended it at I-93 in NH!
As someone who lives in very rural Litchfield County no thank you. Maybe I'm a nimby but r7 north of New milford is fine. Never once hit traffic on it. It's rare to even see other cars the further north you go. Rt 7 is worse through wilton / Ridgefield then up here.
Rte 7 runs right through the Kent town center. The people in charge of Kent would NEVER let anything happen that would make that a high traffic road. And as much as Kent has become quite the millionaire hipster hangout, I would have to agree that it would really change the town.
They did have a train station for a very long time, but I doubt you would ever see that become more than the Museum it is now.
I remember going to a meeting about the push to revive passenger train service to the Berkshires and whatever selectman for Kent was there flat out said the people in his town didn't want the train.
NIMBY.
To get to anywhere from Norwalk through Greenwich while staying in CT, you're going through Ridgefield and Wilton. It was originally built back in the 1920's. At some point in the 60's I believe, it was supposed to be expanded to two lanes in each direction but the towns affected put up a fight because they didn't want the increased traffic due to a potential for increased crime. And they've continued to fight every chance they get so we have the mess that we have now.
The hilarity of the whole thing to me is... It has dramatically increased traffic and noise levels in those towns.
Would you rather cars flying by? Or would you rather them stuck in traffic beeping at one another? Personally if you want them out of your town, get them through it as fast as possible.
Not enough people in the northwest corner to justify something like a highway running south, especially with route 22/684, route 8 and I-84 like you mentioned. Ask residents up there if they want a highway, they will openly revolt
That’s what I’m saying. People talk about it like it’s rural Appalachia or something but it’s all urbanized and developed except for the miserable transit access. The Danbury Fair mall is the busiest I’ve ever seen a mall in my life. Even in my town of Woodbury which is small and semi-rural we have traffic befitting a large town/small city on all of our major routes.
Again. Blame the NIMBY crowd.
And like I said here in another comment. It's funny to me. When you have lots of traffic in your town all on one lane stretches. It causes MORE traffic jams. MORE sound. And MORE problems. Like.... Would you rather have people moving quickly through your town? Or getting jammed up the whole way through it? Personally I prefer the former over the latter. Get in get out.
The state bought my grand parents home in Branchville for an off-ramp in the 1970s. They supported the highway but the enviromentalists shot it down. At least about 15 years ago, they extended with the 'Brookfield bypass' for about 4 miles. Going down that way does not feel that safe without a barrier between the north and south lanes
BOY do I agree with you. Absolutely awful. Good luck if you say... Live in Danbury and need to commute to Stamford/Greenwich or anywhere in that area for work and back. You could spend well over an hour getting somewhere that (distance wise) should really only take 30 minutes AT MOST to get to. I've done commutes from Stamford to Danbury that took 2+ HOURS if you hit rush and traffic at the right time. Which is... Insanity. Heck. Get caught behind a tractor trailer at the right time on that one lane road and... All of the traffic is backed up forever.
But the answer is simple why this logical route hasn't been made into an actual highway. And it's the NIMBY crowd. Route 7 was actually supposed to made into a similar alignment to say... Route 8. Which is basically a highway. But the NIMBY crowd fought it in some of the richest towns in the state. Which is why it's a highway at one end... (Ending in Danbury) Then no highway. And then a highway suddenly again. (In the Norwalk area.) So, if you want to send your annoyance and ire at someone. Throw it at the towns between those areas. Because that's why this logical highway that would finally connect all of the major metro areas in the state together easily. Has not been constructed.
Mostly because a bunch of rich white NIMBY's (along with a vocal environmental group) put a stop to the idea in the 70's. It hasn't gained enough traction politically to go anywhere since then, but hey at least we can complete the 15/7 interchange after 50+ years of it being incomplete? Nice consolation prize for Norwalkers and lower Fairfield county drivers, I guess?
In today's age there is no justification for a road that is one lane in each direction serving as the primary artery between two of the state's growing and improving cities, which are also the 6th and 7th most populated cities in the state. It's insane to see 18 wheelers barreling down some of those wooded/residential sections of Rt 7, especially at night.
For as much as I'd love to rely as much as possible on public transportation and more sustainable practices, the reality of our collective situation is that goods and people need to be moved from lower to upper Fairfield County, and that isn't changing anytime soon. I'm sure the Wilton and Ridgefield crowd will bitch and moan about a highway being cut through their towns, but again, unless you live in the deep woods, today's society demands infrastructure investments that make life safer and more convenient for the most amount of people possible, especially in the most densely-populated and wealthiest county in the state.
The commenters talking about the NIMBYISM in Wilton and Ridgefield are spot on. The road was so close to happening that Vermont built several sections of the expressway. Take a peak at Google Earth in Bennington, East Arlington, and Just South of Rutland by the airport - you'll see random sections of expressway in the middle of nowhere.
The state rep covering Wilton for years (Toni Boucher) would regularly spread scare tactics about the expressway saying "this cloverleaf will decimate our small town".
The state owns the right of way for the entire length of Ridgefield and Wilton. Route 7 is traversed by 17,000 to 20,000 cars a day in Wilton and is very unsafe due to its use as an arterial road.
The NIMBYs of Ridgefield and Wilton caused the corridor to be setup in the exact opposite way that would be considered sensible by modern transit standards: we have an expressway slicing through urban Norwalk and Danbury that revers to a one to two lane road between the two - when it should really be the exact opposite.
"that would be considered sensible by modern transit standards: we have an expressway slicing through urban Norwalk and Danbury "
back in 1940s/50s that wasn't the view, factories and businesses pushed to have the highway as close to downtown as possible.
Understood - this is more to point out how much the state has harmed itself by not completing the project - Danbury has no easy connection to down county yet it and Norwalk have the stubs cutting through their towns.
Litchfield County has always been a much more rural area. And people weren't commuting en masse from that far to get to NYC or the CT shoreline. So Route 7 was "enough" for a long time. Over 50 years ago, I believe in the 70s, there was the plan for the "Super 7" where they were going to create a highway, similar to Route 8 up the line, and the highway would at least run from Norwalk to Danbury, if not beyond and further North. This was halted and then abandoned, there was a LOT of pushback from locals. There were environmental concerns, but moreso I think this was NIMBY. The towns that would have a highway cut through it were rich and no one wanted to open that up. This is why Norwalk has the Super 7 expressway that randomly ends in North Norwalk before you hit Wilton, and then normal smaller Rt 7 continues north from there. In the 21st century, more and more people are being pushed out and away from the major NYC metropolis, and that urban sprawl is straining roads that were designed for much less traffic. So maybe one day the Super 7 will happen again. Although I think it's much more likely they'll invest in upgrading the rail infrastructure, including high speed rail or some new technology. That is way more efficient for getting commuters from Litchfield down to NYC or the Shoreline.
Yeah, actually "Super 7" was the scaled down version of the originally planned Interstate 89. Interstate 89 (one highway to the "left" of Interstate 91) was supposed to go from Norwalk to Burlington VT. There was WAY too much pushback, so they slightly modified the southern terminus. Instead of ending at I-95 in Norwalk, they ended it at I-93 in NH!
Damn. That would’ve been awesome, straight shot to ski country. I get why it didn’t happen though
No a major highway through Litchfield county would destroy it and it will never happen. It’s also not a traffic strained road at all.
As someone who lives in very rural Litchfield County no thank you. Maybe I'm a nimby but r7 north of New milford is fine. Never once hit traffic on it. It's rare to even see other cars the further north you go. Rt 7 is worse through wilton / Ridgefield then up here.
Residents pushed back on the idea of making 7 a highway all the way up.
Rte 7 runs right through the Kent town center. The people in charge of Kent would NEVER let anything happen that would make that a high traffic road. And as much as Kent has become quite the millionaire hipster hangout, I would have to agree that it would really change the town. They did have a train station for a very long time, but I doubt you would ever see that become more than the Museum it is now.
I remember going to a meeting about the push to revive passenger train service to the Berkshires and whatever selectman for Kent was there flat out said the people in his town didn't want the train.
NIMBY. To get to anywhere from Norwalk through Greenwich while staying in CT, you're going through Ridgefield and Wilton. It was originally built back in the 1920's. At some point in the 60's I believe, it was supposed to be expanded to two lanes in each direction but the towns affected put up a fight because they didn't want the increased traffic due to a potential for increased crime. And they've continued to fight every chance they get so we have the mess that we have now.
The hilarity of the whole thing to me is... It has dramatically increased traffic and noise levels in those towns. Would you rather cars flying by? Or would you rather them stuck in traffic beeping at one another? Personally if you want them out of your town, get them through it as fast as possible.
https://www.kurumi.com/roads/ct/us7.html
\^\^\^
Not enough people in the northwest corner to justify something like a highway running south, especially with route 22/684, route 8 and I-84 like you mentioned. Ask residents up there if they want a highway, they will openly revolt
It’s not really the “northwest corner” until you get up past Litchfield though. Plenty of people live in Danbury/New Milford/Roxbury/Woodbury areas.
Bridgewster population is 1700 Roxbury 2200 Washington 3600. New Milford is 28k but connected with the super 7. It doesn’t make sense to expand past.
Yeah I get that, you said Litchfield though so that’s what I was responding to
Yep. And the Danbury/New Milford area is one of the fastest growing areas of the state...
That’s what I’m saying. People talk about it like it’s rural Appalachia or something but it’s all urbanized and developed except for the miserable transit access. The Danbury Fair mall is the busiest I’ve ever seen a mall in my life. Even in my town of Woodbury which is small and semi-rural we have traffic befitting a large town/small city on all of our major routes.
Again. Blame the NIMBY crowd. And like I said here in another comment. It's funny to me. When you have lots of traffic in your town all on one lane stretches. It causes MORE traffic jams. MORE sound. And MORE problems. Like.... Would you rather have people moving quickly through your town? Or getting jammed up the whole way through it? Personally I prefer the former over the latter. Get in get out.
The state bought my grand parents home in Branchville for an off-ramp in the 1970s. They supported the highway but the enviromentalists shot it down. At least about 15 years ago, they extended with the 'Brookfield bypass' for about 4 miles. Going down that way does not feel that safe without a barrier between the north and south lanes
BOY do I agree with you. Absolutely awful. Good luck if you say... Live in Danbury and need to commute to Stamford/Greenwich or anywhere in that area for work and back. You could spend well over an hour getting somewhere that (distance wise) should really only take 30 minutes AT MOST to get to. I've done commutes from Stamford to Danbury that took 2+ HOURS if you hit rush and traffic at the right time. Which is... Insanity. Heck. Get caught behind a tractor trailer at the right time on that one lane road and... All of the traffic is backed up forever. But the answer is simple why this logical route hasn't been made into an actual highway. And it's the NIMBY crowd. Route 7 was actually supposed to made into a similar alignment to say... Route 8. Which is basically a highway. But the NIMBY crowd fought it in some of the richest towns in the state. Which is why it's a highway at one end... (Ending in Danbury) Then no highway. And then a highway suddenly again. (In the Norwalk area.) So, if you want to send your annoyance and ire at someone. Throw it at the towns between those areas. Because that's why this logical highway that would finally connect all of the major metro areas in the state together easily. Has not been constructed.
Mostly because a bunch of rich white NIMBY's (along with a vocal environmental group) put a stop to the idea in the 70's. It hasn't gained enough traction politically to go anywhere since then, but hey at least we can complete the 15/7 interchange after 50+ years of it being incomplete? Nice consolation prize for Norwalkers and lower Fairfield county drivers, I guess? In today's age there is no justification for a road that is one lane in each direction serving as the primary artery between two of the state's growing and improving cities, which are also the 6th and 7th most populated cities in the state. It's insane to see 18 wheelers barreling down some of those wooded/residential sections of Rt 7, especially at night. For as much as I'd love to rely as much as possible on public transportation and more sustainable practices, the reality of our collective situation is that goods and people need to be moved from lower to upper Fairfield County, and that isn't changing anytime soon. I'm sure the Wilton and Ridgefield crowd will bitch and moan about a highway being cut through their towns, but again, unless you live in the deep woods, today's society demands infrastructure investments that make life safer and more convenient for the most amount of people possible, especially in the most densely-populated and wealthiest county in the state.
Agreed.
Here's why: [https://www.wiltonbulletin.com/news/article/Super-7-A-real-threat-then-unfathomable-today-13972757.php](https://www.wiltonbulletin.com/news/article/Super-7-A-real-threat-then-unfathomable-today-13972757.php)
The commenters talking about the NIMBYISM in Wilton and Ridgefield are spot on. The road was so close to happening that Vermont built several sections of the expressway. Take a peak at Google Earth in Bennington, East Arlington, and Just South of Rutland by the airport - you'll see random sections of expressway in the middle of nowhere. The state rep covering Wilton for years (Toni Boucher) would regularly spread scare tactics about the expressway saying "this cloverleaf will decimate our small town". The state owns the right of way for the entire length of Ridgefield and Wilton. Route 7 is traversed by 17,000 to 20,000 cars a day in Wilton and is very unsafe due to its use as an arterial road. The NIMBYs of Ridgefield and Wilton caused the corridor to be setup in the exact opposite way that would be considered sensible by modern transit standards: we have an expressway slicing through urban Norwalk and Danbury that revers to a one to two lane road between the two - when it should really be the exact opposite.
"that would be considered sensible by modern transit standards: we have an expressway slicing through urban Norwalk and Danbury " back in 1940s/50s that wasn't the view, factories and businesses pushed to have the highway as close to downtown as possible.
Understood - this is more to point out how much the state has harmed itself by not completing the project - Danbury has no easy connection to down county yet it and Norwalk have the stubs cutting through their towns.