When we think of transportation in our county, it is our roads that come to mind. Whether used to travel by car, bus, bicycle, or foot, roads form the basis of our transportation system. They provide the connections necessary for communities to function, our economies to thrive, and our lives to happen.

See our Map Viewer for a view of our road network.

Types of Roads

We classify our roads in several ways, based on their role within the system and who is responsible for maintaining them.

Functional Class & the National Highway System (NHS)

Functional classification, a national standard for classifying roads, groups roads according to their character and the role they play in a network, whether a low speed local street or high-speed Interstate. For each classification, the road is further categorized as being ‘urban’ or ‘rural’ based on its location.

A few roads at the top of this scale are further designated as part of the National Highway System (NHS). NHS roads are those deemed most important to the nation's economy, defense, and mobility—and are thus the roads to which the federal government dedicates most of its highway dollars. In Dutchess County, there are 250 centerline miles of NHS roads, including I-84 and Routes 9, 9D, 44, 55, 22, and the Taconic State Parkway, plus segments of Routes 52, 9G, and 199.

The Federal Highway Administration provides money each year for roadway maintenance and improvements, but only about 25 percent of our roads are eligible to receive it. Eligibility is based on a road’s functional class and its NHS status: local streets and rural minor collectors are not eligible, while NHS roads receive about 60 percent of ordinary federal highway dollars. All other road funding comes from state and local sources. For more on funding sources, see our discussion under the Invest section and our Financial Plan.

NYSDOT regularly assesses the pavement condition of federal-aid eligible roads in Dutchess County. Pavement scores fall under four general categories: excellent, good, fair, and poor. Our most recent data comes from 2022 and shows that 330 miles or about half of our federal-aid roads are in good or excellent condition, with only 12 percent rated poor. When looking at condition by Functional Classification, we can see that our higher classified roads, such as Interstates and Principal Arterials, have the lowest share of poor pavement (only ten miles or 13 percent), compared to lower classified roads such as Major Collectors (35 miles or 46 percent). And for the NHS, about 29 miles or 11 percent are rated poor.