Important! Community meeting with ConnDOT and local officials on May 14th at the Silvermine School.

New - Discuss the Merritt - Route 7 Interchange with your neighbors on the new Silvermne blog.

 

If you live in close proximity to the Merritt Parkway where it crosses Perry Avenue, Studio Lane, Rae Lane, Loudon Street, April Lane, or Creeping Hemlock please monitor these developments closely!

Until recently, The City of Norwalk, the CT DOT, and others believed the preferred option is Cloverleaf Plan with Ramp D Option #2!

This Project impacts Silvermine and the neighborhoods of Rae Lane, Studio Lane, Loudon Street, Creeping Hemlock, Perry Avenue and others in the immediate vicinity!

It appears as though we now have the attention of the CT DOT, our State Legislators, and others as it pertains to this Project. While many plans have been reviewed and presented by the DOT and concerned parties, until now these plans have gone relatively unnoticed by Silvermine residents. It is important to note that no plan has yet to be accepted and we still have the opportunity for our concerns to be heard and for us to work together to achieve a suitable, environmentally sound plan that will preserve Silvermine and meet other objectives set forth by the State and the City of Norwalk.

This section of the web-site has been prepared with the hope that it will provide a high-level understanding of the implications surrounding State Project 102-269 and 102-312 and how it impacts Silvermine. Please take the time to review this information, do some of your own research, visit the DOT site dedicated to the Project, and determine where your commitment to make a difference in the outcome of this Project lies.

BACKGROUND INFO: It is worth noting that each of these projects will inevitably create miles of traffic jams during the construction phase, and while Ramp D Option 2 is estimated to be a shorter project in duration and less expensive to the State, it cuts into our beloved Silvermine, destroys more trees and will affect wetlands. Option 12A will take much longer to complete, is more expensive to build, narrowly avoids the Silvermine area, and does not contain a “weave” considered by many to be dangerous to motorists. This option spares trees and wetlands, making it more environmentally conscious.

Modified Cloverleaf Plan with Ramp D Option #2.

As you may be aware, in the original construction of Super 7, the completion the cloverleaf that would enable motorists to connect with points North was never completed and has been a point of contention for many years. In March of 2006, U.S. District Court in New Haven found that the Federal Highway Administration had not met its legal obligation to "minimize harm prior to approving the interchange project."

Executing the second half of the cloverleaf was planned but never completed. Land for the cloverleaf has been owned by the State of CT on the east side of Silvermine for many years and impacts areas from April Lane to the land just to the south of the former Loudon Street. Five homes on Rae Lane were a portion of the State owned properties, and were later sold in 2001 or thereabouts in a minimum bid auction. All 5 homes are currently occupied.

In 2005, the negotiations of the current plans were brought about by a lawsuit filed by the Merritt Parkway Conservancy, the National Trust, the Connecticut Trust, the Norwalk River Watershed Association, the Norwalk Land Trust, the Norwalk Preservation Trust and the Sierra Club which have produced a progression of six plans of which included Modified Cloverleaf Plan with Ramp D Option #2.

The Cloverleaf Plan with Ramp D Option #2 grew out of review, reduction and redesign of the former Interchange design by the premier firm of parkway designers, Vollmer Associates, hired by the Merritt Parkway Conservancy, and further redesign by the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

The Ramp D Option #2 is considered to be a DOT design. With this plan, the bridge over Main Ave., the subject of the lawsuit, will be replaced by a larger structure, and should be consistent with the appearance of the old bridge. Formliner decoration on piers, 35 foot high lighted ramps, a tunnel under the Merritt, etc. are all gone from this design.

Cloverleaf Plan with Ramp D Option #2 will require the flyovers that presently cross Perry Avenue to be torn down and rebuilt. The Merritt Parkway, as a landscaped linear park, is the connecting link for the greenbelt of which we are a part. It is in our own interests to encourage continuation of that greenbelt.

This option would affect an estimated 1.25 acres of wetlands and as indicated above affects four historic bridges as a result.

Additional Option: Alternate 12A

Alternate Option 12A also one of the 6 designs under consideration would not require clearing of woodlands east of Perry Avenue from Rae Lane to Loudon Street. It is indicated that Option 12A would have a "reduced impact" on wetlands and would make a safer drive for motorists traveling between I95 and the Merritt Parkway on the connector.

While retaining Ramps near Main Avenue, Option 12A does not include cloverleafs where the parkway meets the connector and hence cuts less into Silvermine neighborhoods. This alternative does not include a "weave," where the entrance ramp is dumping traffic onto the travel way while others are trying to exit—hence merging traffic with exiting traffic.

The Merritt Parkway Conservancy and the CT DOT have agreed that this is an acceptable alternative despite the Lawsuit in 2005. In this lawsuit, the DOT terminated its $34 million contract for a planned interchange overhaul.