Traffic Congestion
Westbound Arterial, Poughkeepsie, New York
Managing congestion is important to our economy, our environment, and our overall quality of life. In our region, congestion is often a land use problem, caused by sprawling development patterns, poor access management, and a lack of interconnected street networks, as well as limited transportation options. With that said, many bottlenecks can be at least partially alleviated with engineering and technological solutions.
What are the most congested locations in Dutchess County?
In 2025, along with our partners in Ulster and Orange counties, we began to update our Congestion Management Process (CMP). As with our 2019 CMP, we used a data analysis platform developed by the University of Albany’s AVAIL Labs that analyses anonymous cell phone data to map travel speeds, helping us find congested areas. We used several congestion measures to screen our three-county area and settled on measures of ‘excessive delay’ to best depict congestion. In Dutchess County, we identified three locations with the most congestion:
- Route 9 and Route 52 north/east of I-84 in Fishkill
- Route 9 between E Main St and Myers Corners Rd (CR 93) in Wappinger/Wappingers Falls
- Route 9D south of I-84 and the I-84 eastbound exit to 9D in Beacon/Fishkill
Our Barriers to Reliable Access Map shows these priority locations, along with all other road segments that were classified as highly congested based on excessive delay.
For more on our Congestion Management Process, see the Regional Transportation Planning page on our website, which has links to previous CMP documents. We’ll add updated CMP documents when finalized.
THE CONGESTION MEASURES WE USED
Total Excessive Delay per mile, a measure of the total time people spend traveling below a threshold for the road segment on weekdays, normalized for the length of the segment.
Peak Hours of Excessive Delay, a measure of the total time people spend traveling below a threshold speed for the road segment during weekday peak hours (6-9 am and 4-7 pm).
Based on 2024 data, peak hour congestion was highest at two locations: westbound Route 52 between Route 9 and I-84, and southbound Route 9 between E Main St & Myers Corners Rd (CR 93).
In terms of total daily congestion, the worst-performing locations were southbound and northbound Route 9 approaching Route 52/Main St in Fishkill, followed by southbound Route 9 between E Main St & Myers Corners Rd (CR 93).
Our Role
- Pursue planning studies of high-congestion locations as funding and capacity allows, in coordination with road owners, municipalities, and other stakeholders.
- Work with municipalities and road owners on proposed improvements at high-congestion locations.
- Collect and maintain data on high-congestion areas. Continue to use the AVAIL Labs platform, along with traffic volume, vehicle class, and other locally collected traffic data.
- Update the Congestion Management Process. When possible, time updates to take advantage of any expansion of the number or type of roads covered by the AVAIL Labs dataset.
- Consider impacts on congested locations when reviewing land use projects. Work with developers and municipalities during comprehensive planning, zoning, and site plan review processes to mitigate impacts from development on congested locations.