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're working on the following planning tasks for 2023-2024:
Complete a Vulnerability Assessment of the transportation system in Dutchess County.
Complete local planning studies including the Route 113-Spackenkill Rd Sidewalk Feasibility Study and Dover Plains Pedestrian Plan.
Initiate the Beacon-Hopewell Rail Trail Study, which will evaluate the needs and priorities associated with developing a 13-mile trail along the former Beacon Line.
Lend planning support to County Public Works as they implement projects across the county, to include improvements along CR 62 (Maple Ave) in Millerton, CR 103 (Annandale Rd) in Red Hook, and the CR 114 (Main St)/Grand Ave intersection in Poughkeepsie.
Complete our annual vehicle, pedestrian, and bicycle count program.
Complete our annual analysis of speeding patterns on county and local roads using data collected from our annual traffic count program.
Review and update the Functional Classifications of state, county, and local roads, based on changes from the new 2020 Census Urban Area boundary.
Continue our Watch Out For Me campaign to increase awareness of transportation safety issues in Dutchess County, in coordination with the County’s Complete Streets Committee.
Provide planning support to County Public Transit as they implement recommendations from their transit plan, focusing on improving fixed route and demand response services. This includes evaluating the potential for electrifying the bus system.
Update our bylaws and voting membership based on changes from the 2020 Census.
We worked with member agencies, local communities, and stakeholders on a variety of transportation planning activities during the 2022-2023 program year, highlighted below:
Recognized by the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations as its 2022 honorable mention winner for Outstanding Overall Achievement for a large-area MPO for our work on Moving Dutchess Forward.
Unveiled a new logo and style guide in concert with our 40th anniversary as the MPO for Dutchess County.
Adopted a new project selection framework that incorporates the themes presented in Moving Dutchess Forward, with a focus on addressing future trends, safety, reliability, access to basic needs, and transportation equity.
Adopted a new Public Participation Plan to better define outreach activities, with an emphasis on reaching focus equity populations, coordinating with tribal nations, and integrating virtual and web-based engagement tools in our planning process.
Completed a Complete Streets assessment of Route 9 in the Village of Rhinebeck, identifying ways to improve comfort and safety for people walking and bicycling, calm traffic, and create clear gateways into the village.
Completed substantial work on a pedestrian plan for the Dover Plains hamlet in the Town of Dover, including an inventory and analysis of existing pedestrian infrastructure and a package of recommendations to improve walking in the hamlet.
Initiated a climate vulnerability assessment of the transportation system in Dutchess County, which will identify the impacts of climate change on our system and help us prioritize steps to improve resiliency.
Initiated a sidewalk feasibility study of Route 113-Spackenkill Rd in the Town of Poughkeepsie. The study will determine the potential for installing a sidewalk on Spackenkill Rd from Croft Rd to CR 74 (Cedar Ave).
Provided planning support to County Public Works as they implement their Universal Accessibility program, including sidewalk improvements on CR 75 (Innis Ave) in Poughkeepsie and CR 62 (Maple Ave) in Millerton.
Continued to lead the County’s inter‐departmental Complete Streets Committee. This work included progressing the County’s traffic safety education campaign, Watch Out For Me, and continuing its pedestrian safety education program for children, older adults, and transit customers.
Completed the 2022 Traffic Count Program, collecting volume, classification, and speed data at approximately 235 locations, as well as video counts of people walking and bicycling at priority locations.
Completed an analysis of speeding patterns on county and local roads using data collected from our annual traffic count program.
We rely 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 federal transportation law, the most recent being the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). For 2023-2024, the estimated federal allocation for New York State totals $44 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.
2023-2024 Budget
Our 2023-2024 UPWP (.pdf) annual funding estimate totals almost $896,000 (about $728,000 in FHWA funding and $168,000 in FTA funding). We also have almost $731,000 in unspent FHWA funding from previous years that are available for programming as needed. We are programming all of these funds for the 2023-2024 program year. For information about how we've spent past UPWP funds, please see our most recent 2021-2022 UPWP Performance & Expenditure Report: 2021-2022 UPWP UPWP Performance & Expenditure Report (.pdf).
