Duff: UConn–Stamford Study Shows Strong Support for Completion of Super 7.

Nine times the number of area residents support, rather than oppose

State Senator Bob Duff
September 9, 2009

Norwalk — Senator Bob Duff (D-Norwalk), vice chair of the General Assembly’s Transportation Committee, today released the results of a study that shows overwhelming support for construction of the Super 7 Expressway amongst area residents.

Conducted by the University of Connecticut — Stamford, the study randomly surveyed 486 residents in 10 communities and found that overall 53 percent favored the construction of Super 7. Among those towns through which the expressway would be built, 54.7 percent supported construction — meaning that resident support was more than nine times resident opposition to the project.

“This is an important study on a number of levels,” said Senator Duff. “Despite characterizations to the contrary, people who live on the Route 7 corridor want to see this project done. It’s a safety issue, it’s a congestion issue and it’s an accessibility issue. Fairfield County is one of the main economic drivers in our state, but we cannot expect growth if one of the main arteries into Fairfield County is clogged, inhospitable and dangerous.”

Senator Duff continued, “This project is long overdue, and Route 7 has long outlived its original purpose and design. It’s my hope that this survey and the support that it very clearly and impartially demonstrates will be the catalyst that this project needs to get on track and underway.”

Residents were surveyed in Bethel, Danbury, Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk, Redding, Ridgefield, Weston, Westport and Wilton. In contrast to the 53 percent of 486 residents surveyed that supported the project, only six percent said that they opposed Super 7. Twenty-eight percent were neutral and 13 percent did not know their position. Communities where support was the greatest were Danbury at 65 percent and Norwalk at 54.3 percent.

For nearly five decades, state and regional officials have planned an expressway to replace the existing Route US 7 between Norwalk and Danbury. In 1955, the Connecticut Highway Department began planning improvements to US 7 in this corridor.

Two years later, the state announced that the existing US 7 would be expanded from two to four lanes between Norwalk and Danbury, and estimated that the project would be completed by 1962. Except for several stretches, the existing road was never widened.

For more information and to access study materials — including the full final report — please visit www.senatedems.ct.gov/Route7/.