REP. FREY ANNOUNCES “ROUTE 7 WIDENING” PROJECT TO BEGIN

RIDGEFIELD – State Rep. John Frey of Ridgefield, today announced that the contracts for the Phase Two Ridgefield-Danbury Route 7 widening project were signed yesterday (January 22) and construction will begin by March.

Route 7 will be widened to two lanes in both the northbound and southbound directions from just north of the Ridgefield/Danbury line to the entrance to I-84. The widening of the northern section will require constructing a new bridge over Wooster Heights Road. This new bridge will carry the two southbound lanes. The existing bridge will carry the two northbound lanes.

Rep. Frey said, “the completion of this important roadway in western Connecticut has been much anticipated by our region. The Route 7 corridor is by far the most heavily traveled north-south roadway in western Connecticut and has been a headache for thousands of motorists for too many years. I am pleased that after many years of moving this project along, we will soon see work begin on the final section.”

The project will also include seven incident management variable message signs on

I-84 between Exit 2 and Exit 10. Five of these signs will have traffic cameras. The signs will be part of the Department’s state-wide incident management system.

Empire Paving will be the contractor for the Route 7 project with their winning bid of $45,331,480. Empire Paving has expressed an interest in starting by March 1, 2009 with an estimated completion date of Spring 2012.

“This project would not be moving forward if not for the support of Governor Jodi Rell. Last summer, she made it a priority to allocate state bonding dollars after it became evident that federal funds would not be available in the foreseeable future. When the bids came in, they were higher than initially projected and she again stepped in to see that the necessary funds were available. I want to thank her for her pivotal support in making this announcement possible,” Rep. Frey added.

The contractor will be prohibited from performing any work which interferes with existing traffic operations Monday through Friday between 7 AM and 9 AM and between 3 PM and 6 PM and on Saturday and Sunday between 10 AM and 9 PM. The contractor will also not be allowed to perform any work which requires alternating one-way traffic on Route 7 Monday through Sunday between 6 AM and 10 PM.