The Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) (.pdf) describes our annual planning work to address ongoing and emerging transportation issues. Preparation of the UPWP is required by the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) and serves as the basis for federal funding assistance for transportation planning. The UPWP helps our member agencies coordinate various planning activities and relate transportation planning concerns to other planning activities in the region. Funding support for the work program comes from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA).
Dutchess County and the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) provide the required matching funds for all UPWP tasks. We carry out our planning responsibilities in accordance with the federal Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) and related regulations and guidelines.
The Transportation Council has identified the following planning objectives for our 2020-2021 UPWP:
Complete and adopt a new Transportation Plan with a 2045 planning horizon year.
Complete Poughkeepsie 9.44.55, our consultant-supported analysis of the Route 9/44/55 interchange and east-and west-bound aerials in the City and Town of Poughkeepsie.
Complete the Arlington Main Street Redesign Initiative to make Main Street in the Town of Poughkeepsie a more walkable and safer street.
Complete the 2020 Traffic Count Program, collecting volume, classification, and speed data at approximately 150 locations throughout the county.
Complete the fifth round of County and local pavement monitoring, assessing the condition of local roads in Dutchess County.
Complete the fifth annual analysis of speeding patterns on county and local roads using data from our traffic count program.
Continue our public safety campaign to increase awareness of walking and bicycling safety issues in Dutchess County.
Complete the Mid-Hudson Valley Regional Transit Study: Connect Mid-Hudson.
Continue to develop and refine our regional Congestion Management Process, identifying and evaluating congested locations across Dutchess County and the Mid-Hudson Valley.
The Transportation Council worked with member agencies and stakeholders on a variety of short- and long-range planning initiatives, data collection efforts, and capital programming activities during the 2019-2020 program year, highlighted by the following accomplishments:
Launched Poughkeepsie 9.44.55, a consultant-supported, multi-year study of the Route 9/44/55 interchange and east- and westbound arterials in the City and Town of Poughkeepsie, and completed background and data collection tasks.
Launched, and completed substantial work on, the Arlington Main Street Redesign Initiative to make Main Street in the Town of Poughkeepsie a more walkable and safer street.
Began the update process for a new county-wide Transportation Plan with a 2045 planning horizon year.
Completed the Village of Pawling Pedestrian Plan, which identifies ways to improve pedestrian access and safety in the Village. The Plan was developed in coordination with a volunteer task force made up of local officials and residents.
Developed and approved a new TIP, programming federal highway and transit funds in Dutchess County over a five-year period (FFY 2020-2024).
Conducted a Safety Assessment of Slate Quarry Road (County Route 19) in the Town of Clinton. The Assessment outlines a number of opportunities to improve safety on a 1.7-mile road segment, with a focus on low-cost, short-range improvements and, as feasible, more expensive longer-range improvements.
Completed the 2019 Traffic Count Program, collecting volume, vehicle classification, and speed data at 254 locations across the county. The 2019 count program also deployed tube and video counters to count people walking and bicycling at 40 locations throughout the county, including on the William R. Steinhaus Dutchess Rail Trail and the Harlem Valley Rail Trail. The Council also worked with staff from the County's Office for Computer and Information Services (OCIS) to develop an interactive map-based application for traffic data.
Completed the fourth year of a pavement scoring program for local roads in Dutchess County. This initiative provides municipalities with an objective and uniform Pavement Condition Index (PCI) rating for all paved roads to help track road conditions over time, prioritize limited maintenance funds, and develop capital programs to maintain and improve roads.
Completed the fourth annual analysis of speeding patterns (.pdf) on county and local roads, using data collected from the traffic count program. The analysis identifies road segments with high percentages of ‘high-end’ speeders, defined by staff as those travelling more than 10 mph over the posted speed limit.
Continued to lead the County’s inter‐departmental Complete Streets Committee, including the County’s traffic safety education campaign, Watch Out For Me, and a pedestrian safety education program for children, the elderly, and transit riders.
In conjunction with Orange and Ulster County, continued our Congestion Management Process (CMP) (.pdf), completing a regional congestion screening (.pdf) and a multi-modal access assessment (.pdf).
In conjunction with Orange and Ulster County, completed substantial work on the Mid-Hudson Valley Regional Transit Study, Connect Mid-Hudson.
The Transportation Council relies on federal planning funds to carry out our metropolitan transportation planning process. These funds, allocated on an annual basis and programmed through the UPWP, come from two primary sources: the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Planning Program (PL) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5303 Metropolitan Planning Program (MPP). The funds are authorized through the federal surface transportation authorization, the most recent being the FAST Act. For 2020-2021, the federal allocation for New York State is estimated to total $32.6 million. The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) distributes the funds to the 14 MPOs in New York State based on a formula that accounts for each MPO's planning area population and its TMA status.
These planning funds, like other federal transportation funding, are administered through NYSDOT on a reimbursement basis. We must first perform the planning work, after which we are reimbursed for the federal share of the cost. Our staff administer UPWP activities and submit quarterly reimbursement requests and activity reports to NYSDOT.
As with most federal transportation funding, a 20 percent local match is required for the federal planning funds used in the UPWP. NYSDOT provides a 15 percent toll credit/in-kind service match, while Dutchess County provides a five percent monetary match.
2020-2021 Budget
Our 2020-2021 UPWP (.pdf) annual funding estimate totals almost $679,000 (about $549,000 in FHWA funding and $130,000 in FTA funding). We also have over $730,000 in unspent FHWA funding from previous years that are available for programming as needed. We will program all of these backlog funds for the 2020-2021 program year.
