Brookfield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, situated within the southern foothills of the Berkshire Mountains. The population was 17,528 at the 2020 census. The town is located 55 miles (89 km) northeast of New York City, making it part of the New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA combined statistical area. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region. In July 2013, Money magazine ranked Brookfield the 26th-best place to live in the United States, and the best place to live in Connecticut.
Fairfield County is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 957,419, representing 26.6% of Connecticut's overall population. The closest to the center of the New York metropolitan area, the county contains four of the state's top 7 largest cities—Bridgeport (1st), Stamford (2nd), Norwalk (6th), and Danbury (7th)—whose combined population of 433,368 is nearly half the county's total population.
New Fairfield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 13,579 at the 2020 census. New Fairfield is one of five towns that surround Candlewood Lake, the largest lake in Connecticut. The town is located 55 miles (89 km) northeast of New York City, making it part of the New York metropolitan area. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region.
U.S. Route 7 (US 7) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway in western New England that runs for 308 miles (496 km) through the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The highway's southern terminus is at Interstate 95 (I-95) exit 15 in Norwalk, Connecticut. Its northern terminus is at I-89 exit 22 near the village of Highgate Springs, Vermont, immediately south of the Canada–United States border.
A tourist trolley, also called a road trolley, is a bus designed to resemble an old-style streetcar or tram, usually with false clerestory roof. The vehicles are usually fueled by diesel, or sometimes compressed natural gas.
The Housatonic Railroad is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England and eastern New York. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, and has since expanded north and south, as well as west into New York State.
The Danbury Branch is a diesel branch of the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line in the U.S. state of Connecticut, running from downtown Norwalk north to Danbury. It opened in 1852 as the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad. Until the early 1970s, passenger service continued north from Danbury to Canaan, Connecticut, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Metro-North took over operation of the line from Conrail in 1983, and the modern-day branch is mostly single-tracked.
The Danbury and Norwalk Railroad, chartered in 1835 as the Fairfield County Railroad, was an independent American railroad that operated between the cities of Danbury and Norwalk, Connecticut from 1852 until its absorption by the Housatonic Railroad in 1886. The right of way established by the D&N continues in operation and is now the Danbury Branch of the New Haven Line of the Metro-North Railroad.
The Norwalk Transit District (NTD) is the primary provider of public transportation services in Norwalk, Connecticut, United States, and surrounding communities. The local Norwalk fixed-route bus transit system, is the primary service of the district linking Norwalk and its immediate suburbs. The agency also operates regional bus services as far north as Danbury and as far east as Bridgeport and commuter shuttles to Metro-North stations. Paratransit door-to-door services are available for residents in the service area unable to use regular transit services. Norwalk Transit contracts with local transportation service providers to perform some of the door-to-door services, and is also the provider of public transit for the Westport Transit District.
Putnam Transit or Putnam Area Rapid Transit (PART) is the provider of bus transit in Putnam County, New York. An agency of the Putnam County government, Putnam Transit came into service in the mid-1970s as a startup system in the wake of growing suburbanization of Putnam County and rising gas prices.
Stamford-Bridgeport-Norwalk is a metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The area is located in Southwestern Connecticut. In its most conservative form, the area consists of the City of Bridgeport and five surrounding towns—Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford, and Trumbull. This definition of the Stamford area has a population of more than 305,000 and is within the Stamford -Bridgeport-Norwalk-Danbury metropolitan statistical area, which consists of all of Fairfield County, Connecticut. The estimated 2015 county population was 948,053. The area is numbered as part of the New York-Newark Combined Statistical Area NY-NJ-CT-PA by the United States Census Bureau.
Connecticut's 5th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in the western part of the state and spanning across parts of Fairfield, Litchfield, New Haven, and Hartford Counties, the district runs from Meriden and New Britain in central Connecticut, westward to Danbury and the surrounding Housatonic Valley, encompassing the Farmington Valley, Upper Naugatuck River Valley, and the Litchfield Hills. The district also includes most of Waterbury.
Greater Danbury, also known as the Housatonic Valley Region, is a region in the state of Connecticut centered on the city of Danbury. It consists of the city of Danbury and adjacent towns in the areas around the Housatonic River and the Still River. The area is also home to Candlewood Lake, the largest lake in the New York metropolitan area.
Greater Bridgeport Transit (GBT) is a transit service serving the Greater Bridgeport region of the U.S. state of Connecticut. Greater Bridgeport Transit was established in 1971 in anticipation of diminished bus service by the Connecticut Company, which officially ceased operations in Bridgeport in 1972. GBT provides local bus service to the cities/towns of Bridgeport, Trumbull, Stratford, Milford, Fairfield, Westport, Shelton, and Monroe. The fleet is composed of mainly New Flyer Xcelsior and New Flyer Low Floor, as well as Gillig Low Floor and two Proterra Catalyst BE40 models.
U.S. Route 7 (US 7) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway which runs 78 miles (126 km) in the state of Connecticut. The route begins at Interstate 95 (I-95) in Norwalk starting out as a four-lane freeway until the Wilton town line. The route then proceeds north as a two-lane surface road through Redding and Ridgefield, where it becomes a four-lane surface road until it reaches Danbury. The route becomes a four-lane freeway again, eventually merging with I-84 for a brief period before it turns and proceeds north with US 202 in Brookfield. The freeway section terminates at an intersection with US 202 at the Fairfield–Litchfield county line next to Candlewood lake. The route then continues north as a four-lane arterial road to New Milford, where it becomes a two-lane surface road, running north to the Massachusetts border in North Canaan. US 7 was aligned to its current route around 1930, and, since then, three sections totaling around 12 miles (19 km) have been upgraded to freeway standards.
The Danbury and Bethel Street Railway was a streetcar transit operator serving the greater Danbury, Connecticut, area, originally chartered in 1886. It was one of the few trolley companies to remain independent of the Connecticut Company consolidation of transit lines throughout the state. Electric trolley service between Danbury and Bethel began in 1887. The streetcar line connected to the Danbury and Harlem Traction Company at the Fairgrounds, but no service was provided and the line was abandoned by 1910. The Danbury and Bethel Street Railway faced its first financial difficulties in 1914 as ridership declined with the closure of local factories. The construction of an aborted extension to Bridgeport had nearly exhausted the railway's cash reserves. The company was purchased by J. Moss Ives in 1918 with the intention of bringing the operation back to profitability. The first buses were ordered and put into operation in 1912 between Main Street and Lake Avenue in Danbury. Ives reorganized as the Danbury and Bethel Traction Company in 1925. When the proposal to replace all remaining streetcar lines with bus operation was announced, the trolley motormen all went on strike in November 1926. The work stoppage did not affect the transition, and by the end of 1926 all streetcar operation had been abandoned, making it the first line in Connecticut to completely convert to bus operation.
Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company was a streetcar and bus transit operator serving the region around Bridgeport, Norwalk, Derby, New Britain and Waterbury, Connecticut. It was formed in 1901 by United Gas Improvement Company of Philadelphia to manage the streetcar operations of the Connecticut Light and Power Company, which at the time included Central Railway and Electric Company, Norwalk Street Railway, and the Waterbury Traction Company. The newly formed Connecticut Railway and Lighting acquired Bridgeport Traction Company, Derby Street Railway, Milford Street Railway, Shelton Street Railway, Meriden, Southington and Compounce Tramway Company, and the Cheshire Street Railway. Connecticut Railway and Lighting was leased to the Consolidated Railway and in turn the Connecticut Company between 1906 and 1936. Streetcar operations were discontinued in 1937 when all lines were converted to bus. Transit operations continued until 1972, when all remaining bus operations were suspended and taken over by Connecticut Transit, except in Bridgeport- by the Greater Bridgeport Transit District in 1975.
The Western Connecticut Planning Region is a planning region and county-equivalent in Connecticut. It is served by the coterminous Western Connecticut Council of Governments (WestCOG), one of nine regional councils of governments in Connecticut. Within the region, there are two Metropolitan Planning Organizations, South Western CT MPO and the Housatonic Valley MPO.
