The Republicans in Wilton have announced that Susan Bruschi plans to run for the open state rep  seat in the 143rd. Norwalk apparently an afterthought, especially reading this:

Blocking the controversial Super 7 highway that would extend the Route 7 connector to Danbury and improving service on Metro-North Railroad’s Danbury Branch are among Bruschi’s top priorities, she sad, as are keeping taxes and government spending to a minimum.

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With long time State Senator Judith Freedman- R Westport retiring, a shift in local races is today’s news. State Rep Toni Boucher is jumping into the 26th Senatorial district race, which will now pit Boucher against John Hartwell. The 26th covers the towns of Bethel, New Canaan, Redding, Ridgefield, Weston, Westport and Wilton.

Boucher read this statement at the press conference held yesterday in Wilton.

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How many times do we have to close route 7 down before people realize it s not an acceptable artery connecting I-95 to I-84?

Accident closes Route 7 [Friday, 2:28 p.m.]

WILTON — Police closed Route 7 at about 2:10 Friday afternoon after a car hit a utility poll at Sealy Road. The accident site is about one mile north of Wilton High School. According to police, wires are across the road.

Traffic is being detoured and delays should be expected. Police don’t yet know when the road will re-open.

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Well this is certainly a depressing development. While State Senator Bob Duff-D works to get Super 7 on the radar of legislators, State Rep Toni Boucher-R uses her bigger stash of mojo to erase any mention of Super 7 studies from the bonding bill. The Hour reports:

Duff inserted language on line 3,046 of a bonding package that would require the state Department of Transportation to report, using available funds, on the viability of Super 7 by the end of 2008.

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This has to be filed under foreshadowing your future. For the longest time Wilton has stood in the way of Super 7, the continuation of the 4 lane highway to Danbury. And now Wilton has been given the alternative, a widening of the existing route 7 which, when done will be about the size of the post road. And we all know how that road has maintained its quaint New England charm. oday’s Advocate reports:

Wilton police are asking the state to lower the speed limit near a Route 7 construction site because a number of officers directing traffic there have been hit by cars, though none was seriously hurt.

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According to the Wilton Villager, the widening of route 7 through Wilton is about 11% complete. The CT DOT held a progress report on the project. From the article:

The contractor, New Britain-based Tilcon Connecticut, is 90 days into its 824 day contract, or 10.9 percent complete. Tilcon has spent $4.45 million of its allotted $35 million.

“I’m happy to say the state of the construction is good,” said Brian Mercure, the department’s project manager, though he acknowledged problems the department has run into.
There have been some utility conflicts, where water mains have been located in places where storm drains were planned. There was also a conflict when outlets had to be run across train tracks. DOT got around that by working during an existing Metro North outage.

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