Route 7 Study Update

Six months into a study of the Route 7 corridor between Norwalk and Danbury, analysts Monday night reported on existing conditions there and on their intent to recommend both traffic flow improvements and community-tailored development.

The study, intended to create a plan for the corridor that should be implemented by 2030, is scheduled to be completed in March 2011. It's sponsored by the South Western Regional Planning Agency and the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials. Ridgefield is a member of HVCEO.

Project manager Craig Lader of SWRPA said the study will cost about $375,000, 80 percent of which will be funded by the federal government and 20 percent by the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Lader noted that neither of the sponsoring organizations has the power to force  implementation of the study's results, so they will be presented as recommendations to the corridor's communities and to the state.

The study is being conducted by the consulting firm Fitzgerald & Halliday of Hartford.

In her remarks opening the session before an audience of about 60 people, Susan VanBenschoten, chief operating office and project manager of Fitzgerald & Halliday, said the ultimate purpose of the study is to "enhance the quality of life in the corridor."

Highlights of the presentation, "Vision For the Future and Existing Conditions," held in the cafeteria of Wilton High School, included:

• Ridgefield is a "significant (destination) attraction" for trips emanating from Norwalk and Danbury.

• The existing conditions along the northern (Danbury) end of the highway work well in handling traffic demands.

• The worst traffic problems are in the south end of the corridor between Grist Mill Road and the I-Park office complex in Norwalk. (The highest number of vehicles per day in the corridor is approximately 37,000, the lowest about 18,000.)

• There is public interest in riding bicycles along stretches of Route 7, but it is unsafe for that purpose. Also, facilities for safely storing bicycles would be needed at train stations along the Danbury Branch of Metro North Railroad.

• The size and character of the residential population along Route 7 is mostly stable, which makes planning easier.

• There is an insufficient amount of multi-family housing along the corridor, which creates difficulties for young families. Also, more workforce housing is needed.

• The vacancy rate of office buildings along the corridor is 14 percent, including the Merritt 7 complex in Norwalk. Without that complex, the vacancy rate is 9 percent.

• There is a demand for "big box" retailers, but there are few parcels of available land large enough to build them.

• There is a large demand for service retail establishments that can be reached in short trips.

VanBenschoten emphasized the study will not consider construction of a multi-lane expressway between Norwalk and Danbury, an idea that has been proposed since the 1960s.

She said two more public sessions will be held during the course of the study, with the next sometime in October. At that time, she said, the analysts will present proposed future conditions for the corridor with a draft of a plan to implement them.

The current results of the study can be found online at www.route7study.org.