Suburban town; lots of traffic

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD – Particularly for a town with about one-third the land of either neighboring New Milford and Newtown, Brookfield generates a lot of traffic.

There are an estimated 70,000 vehicle trips per day through the Candlewood Lake Road intersection of the Miracle Mile on Federal Road, which is dotted with signs for some of the most notable outlets in America – ranging from McDonalds to Costco.

First Selectman Steve Dunn said some years ago he tried to recruit Starbucks to Brookfield Town Center – the 198-acre New England-style central business district, which has emerged at the other end of Federal Road.

Dunn said the primary driver was volume of traffic and earlier this year Starbuck opened instead along the Miracle Mile.

He said in an interview with Patch.com that the Miracle Mile is “about developed out” with little land left for further expansion.

Selectman Bob Belden told Patch.com last year that one of the attractions of living in Brookfield is that no matter where you live in town there is shopping within minute drive.

“We’re not going to let it go up Candlewood Lake Road,” Dunn commented.

The first selectman, who is in his fifth, non-consecutive term, said the area garners considerable tax revenue, but falls short of being a “win-win” equation.

“It also generates expenses,” Dunn explained. “We have police, ambulance and fire going there multiple times. There also is all of the traffic, which a lot of the residents don’t like.”

Before the 2.1-mile Route 7 bypass opened in 2009, there were an estimated 30,000 vehicle trips daily through the Four Corners intersection of Federal Road in Brookfield Town Center.

Traffic jams persisted through the morning and evening rush hours and it was difficult to make a left—hand turn.

The traffic flow is now slightly more than half of what it was before the bypass opened.

Not long ago, residents complained that even with the streetscape that has been added over the last decade, too few people went to Brookfield Town Center.

Dunn insisted that has changed with the development of Brookfield Village, which began construction in 2016, and Emporium Plaza, which broke ground in 2021. The Food Emporium supermarket, the largest retail tenant, opened last November.

He said the residents from the apartments in Brookfield Town Center form a core customer base, but businesses are attracting customers from outside of Brookfield because of the access through Super Route 7 and The Route 7 by pass.

“The advantage of Brookfield Town Center is that you can come off the highway and you can be in our downtown in five minutes,” Dunn remarked. “In Bethel, you’ve got at least a 15-minute trip from any exit."

He pointed to the Brookfield Running Company, a business tenant at Emporium Plaza.

“I don’t think they could survive with just Brookfield residents coming to them,” Dunn commented. “But they’re right off the highway. They provide high-end, classic running shoes and help runners get the right shoes. They’re clientele comes from all over, I think.”

The town provided some tax abatement at Emporium Plaza since the developers provided 38 public parking spaces. Dunn said that has boosted interest in Brookfield Town Center since, for example, people using the Still River Greenway know they can park on the northern end of the loop.

Dunn said he has underscored that other new businesses in Brookfield Town Center should also provide public parking.

He remarked, “If it isn’t easy to get parking spaces, people won’t go there.”