Gilbert B Norman wrote:Litchfield County, quite simply, is a transportation wasteland. Interstate highways are limited to CT8 to Winsted and what piece of I-84 near Danbury traverses the County. But where is the Litchfield County International Airport (not advocating such by any means)? Where is I-89 replacing US7? So far as US7 goes, the only infrastructure improvement made in the past eighty years has been the impressive concrete arch bridge at West Cornwall - that was opened during the Depression.
It is really a wonder The Berkshire made it to A-Day.
Not to be overly picky, but actually I-84 completely misses Litchfield County-- Newtown is in Fairfield County, and Southbury and Middlebury in New Haven County. And in terms of improvements on 7, not sure what the last time was you were up there, but there have been substantial changes south of the US 202 intersection in New Milford: the 7 Expressway now continues all the way around Brookfield to the west, and between the end of the Expressway and New Milford the road is four lanes, part of it divided by a rather nicely landscaped median. This is all new within the last three years.
Bigger picture though the story from the Lakeville Journal makes no sense. Seems to me that best case scenario the line north of New Milford could perhaps support 2-a-day each way-- with a supplemental Friday evening outbound/Sunday evening inbound in summer. That was essentially the service pattern in the post-WW2 years of New Haven operation, no? South of New Milford is a different story-- but only
if you can run through to S. Norwalk or Stamford, so that you capture the commuter traffic heading down to jobs in lower Fairfield County.
We shall see, I guess.
As an aside, part of me wonders if the "reporter" is perhaps an aspiring journalist now in attendance at Salisbury or Hotchkiss...