A major infrastructure project that would connect the Merritt Parkway and Route 7 in Norwalk is inching toward the final design phase. The state DOT updated dozens of Norwalk residents on the progression of the project Tuesday night. “From what I’ve seen on their mockups," Matt Silber said, "It looks like a big improvement, which is nice." Currently, existing north and southbound traffic on Route 7 is able to merge onto Route 15 south only, but after years of research and analysis, the state Department of Transportation is moving along to finish the second half of the job. “It’s a complex project," DOT principal engineer Neil Patel says. "It's one of the biggest projects we have going on in the state." "Alternative 26" as it’s called, requires fewer bridges and costs a lot less than other plans, experts say. The Main Avenue Merritt Parkway bridge will also be expanded. It's been a long and windy 20-year road for the project. A lawsuit filed by the Merritt Parkway Conservancy back in 2003 put an end to construction and even prevented the Super 7 connection to Danbury. Decades later, however, the conservancy, state and federal government are all on board. "We're closer now today than we were back with the lawsuits and the number of alternatives that we had," Patel says. The state DOT says the changes will reduce accidents and make parts of Norwalk friendlier for pedestrians and cyclists. “I’m hoping they listen to us," Silber says, "and they build the kind of bike and pedestrian infrastructure as a part of this project in a way that kind of makes everybody happy." The state DOT says construction is expected to start in 2027 and would take a couple of years to complete.