The route begins at Interstate 95 (I-95) in Norwalk starting out as a four-lane freeway until the Wilton town line.

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.

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.

Exit 2 leads to Route 123 which extends from US 1 in Norwalk through the town of New Canaan to the New York state line.

[5][6] The freeway section ends at Grist Mill Road in Norwalk, about one-half mile (0.80 km) past exit 3.

US 7 and US 202 then leave I-84 at exit 7 and travel on their own freeway for approximately seven miles (11 km) to just south of the New Milford town line.

Recent construction has also made large parts of US 7 between the terminus of the freeway and New Milford a four-lane arterial road.

Lack of funding and continued opposition to the freeway has prevented construction of the remainder of the proposed highway between Grist Mill Road and Danbury.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) has stated its intent to eventually extend the southern section of the US 7 freeway from Grist Mill Road in Norwalk to Route 33 in Wilton (approximately three miles [4.8 km]), but no timetable or funding source has been defined for this project.

The Brookfield bypass segment between exit 12 and the current freeway terminus opened in November 2009, after two years of construction.