According to J. Christopher Irsfeld, chairman of the board of selectmen for this town, most residents do not support an interchange exit here. "The Highway Department has tried to do this a few times over the past 50 years," he tells GlobeSt.com. "The town sits in the middle of Route 7 and once you build an interchange, you bring in more traffic." Irsfeld notes that a Highway Department study states that with the new interchange traffic on Route 7 will increase by 87%.

Stockbridge is home to a number of well-known venues that attract tourists all year long. Among these are Tanglewood, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, the Red Lion Inn and Chesterwood. "Stockbridge is the goose that laid the golden egg," notes Irsfeld. "Our venues are internationally famous. People come here for the town. If you mess up the town, people won't come."

In the 1950s, Lee fought to have an interchange in its town. Since then, Lee also lobbied to have a large outlet shopping center built on a hill. "Lee caused its problems by itself," says Irsfeld. "Residents fought to get that outlet and now they're tired of it." The outlet causes even more commercial truck traffic in the town because of the shipments required by the stores there.