Transportation For All
Smith St and North Clinton St., Poughkeepsie, New York
Removing barriers, whether related to safety, reliability, or basic needs, remains a central theme of Moving Dutchess Forward. But sometimes barriers are institutionalized in a way that may not be as obvious as an unsafe intersection, congested corridor, or infrequent bus. Barriers can present themselves in how we make decisions, where we invest, and who we ignore – and just as this applies to our society in general, it also applies to transportation and access. Removing transportation barriers and expanding access, regardless of a person’s race, ability, age, income, or any other characteristic, must be at the core of what we do.
The Law
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, one of our nation’s landmark achievements, and specifically Title VI, prohibits federally funded entities such as ours from discriminating against people based on race, color, and national origin. Other federal laws expanded upon these nondiscrimination requirements to protect people based on gender (Title VII), age (the Age Discrimination Act of 1975), and disability (the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990).
OUR NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY
We assure that no person conducting business with us will be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any of our programs or activities based on the grounds of race, color, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, language, income or veteran status. See our Title VI Policy for more information.
Where do we begin?
Removing transportation barriers starts with understanding our communities, including by finding where vulnerable populations are located. For this Plan, we used data from the Census Bureau to locate vulnerable or focus populations in Dutchess County. We used census tract data, and in some cases municipal level data, to account for high margins of error in smaller geographies like block groups. We also relied on national guidance and best practices to understand how we should identify focus areas and populations. For each tract, we created scores based on how much each focus population exceeded the county average. We then combined these scores into a single Vulnerability Index for each tract. See our Methodology document (.pdf) for more information.
Where are our focus populations?
We can look at our focus populations individually and collectively. When we look at them individually, we find the following:
- Minority & Hispanic Populations: The highest shares of Black residents live in the City of Poughkeepsie, notably in the Middle Main and Northside areas, with sections of the towns of Poughkeepsie and Fishkill also having high shares. High shares of Asian residents live in the eastern portion of the Town of Fishkill, southwestern Hyde Park, and portions of the City and Town of Poughkeepsie. And for Hispanic residents, the highest shares live in the City of Poughkeepsie and Village of Wappingers Falls.
- Older Adults & Youth: The highest shares of older adults (65 and over) live in the Town and Village of Rhinebeck, the eastern part of the Town of Pawling, and the southeast portion of the City of Poughkeepsie. The highest shares of youth (under 18) live in the northern part of the City of Poughkeepsie and northeastern East Fishkill.
- Low-Income Populations: The highest share of low-income populations live in the City of Poughkeepsie, followed by the towns of Stanford, Milan, and Dover.
- People with Disabilities: The highest shares of people with disabilities live in the Village of Millbrook and sections of the City of Poughkeepsie and Town of Hyde Park.
- Foreign Born & Limited English Populations: Though data on limited English proficiency is only available for the City and Town of Poughkeepsie, both were above the county average.
What focus populations did we look at in Dutchess County?
| Percent | Estimate | |
|---|---|---|
| Black/African-American | 10.4% | 30,329 |
| Asian | 3.7% | 10,749 |
| Hispanic | 14.2% | 41,462 |
| Older Adults (65 & over) | 18.7% | 54,609 |
| Youth (Under 18) | 19.2% | 56,272 |
| Disabled | 13.3% | 38,935 |
| Low Income | 8.4% | 23,837 |
| Limited English Households* | 2.4% | 2,757 |
| Foreign Born | 11.6% | 34,667 |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2020 Census & 2020-2024
American Community Survey)
*Shown as a percentage of total households
Where are our focus areas?
Reality tells us that these populations don’t live in isolation: a person or household can have more than one focus characteristic. This is why we developed a Vulnerability Index to measure the cumulative vulnerability of our population and to identify focus areas. When we do that, we find the following:
- Nine census tracts have an index of 10 or higher, double the county average of 5.
- Eight of these tracts are in the City of Poughkeepsie, and one is in the Town of Poughkeepsie (Arlington area).
- Three tracts in the City of Poughkeepsie have the highest index values in the county (16-18); these are in the Middle Main and Northside areas.
- Other areas above the county average include the Village of Wappingers Falls, Town of Dover, and portions of the City of Beacon and Town of Poughkeepsie.
See our Transportation For All Map for more information.
OUR MOST VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES
Our Vulnerability Index allows us to look at the cumulative vulnerability of a community. We can tell that much of the City of Poughkeepsie and areas of the Town of Poughkeepsie adjacent to the city are particularly vulnerable to transportation decisions.
Measuring Transportation Vulnerability
Identifying vulnerable areas and populations allows us to answer some important questions about transportation access: Are barriers to safe or reliable access more prevalent in one community than another? Are transportation resources allocated equally across the county? We can measure transportation access by comparing what we’ve learned about safety, reliability, and access with what we know about our vulnerable areas and populations. Though we can’t erase the decisions of the past, we have a responsibility to address them through better policies, programs, and projects. Below are some of the transportation issues we’ve identified.
Safe Access
Our Safety Action Plan identifies hotspot locations based on crash data. Perhaps not surprisingly, we find that some of these hotspots are in focus areas or places with high shares of vulnerable populations. The Route 44/55 arterials in the City of Poughkeepsie, Main St in the City of Poughkeepsie, and Route 9D in Wappingers Falls are safety hotspots that also have high shares of vulnerable populations.
The Safety Action Plan also includes a systemic screening of focus crash types, including pedestrian crashes– of particular importance to our most vulnerable residents who do not have access to a vehicle and often cross streets with high traffic volumes. The screening identified 11 intersections in the City of Poughkeepsie, almost all on the Route 44/55 arterials, as having the highest risk for pedestrian crashes in the county.
WHAT ARE WE DOING TO ADDRESS TRANSPORTATION BARRIERS?
Projects such as the County’s redesign of the Main St/Grand Ave intersection at the City/Town of Poughkeepsie border and our Poughkeepsie 9.44.55 study to redesign the Arterials and Route 9 Interchange address some of the barriers that we’ve identified. We’ll keep striving to remove barriers through future transportation projects and programs.
Reliable Access
Bus Access
We know that some communities with high shares of focus populations have limited bus service via the County’s fixed route system. Some communities in the Harlem Valley such as Dover are home to high shares of vulnerable populations but have infrequent or no fixed-route bus service. Fixed routes may not be the best solution for these low-density areas, but other service models could be used, some of which are discussed in our regional transit plan, Connect Mid-Hudson. Whatever the solution, improving access for transit dependent populations can expand transportation access for everyone.
Train Access
Though our rail system follows historic patterns and no new stations have opened in Dutchess County since 2000 (and none are planned), we can still look at conditions related to train access. We see that some barriers exist at stations in focus areas – notably Beacon and Poughkeepsie, where both stations lack secure, long-term bike parking – and in Dover, where both the Wingdale and Dover Plains stations lack frequent bus service and the Wingdale station lacks adequate sidewalk coverage.
Walking & Bicycling Access
Many of the locations where we’ve identified gaps in walking and bicycling infrastructure also have high shares of focus populations. For example, hamlets along Route 22 in the Harlem Valley – with high shares of vulnerable populations – have poor sidewalk coverage that makes walking difficult. These include Dover Plains and Wingdale in Dover.
Traffic Congestion
Some of our most congested roads travel through focus areas. The Columbus Dr weave on the westbound Route 44/55 arterial runs through focus areas with high shares of Black, Hispanic, low-income, and disabled residents. And congested segments of Route 9 and Route 9D travel through Wappingers Falls, a focus area with a high share of Hispanic residents. These congested roads not only create reliability barriers for drivers but also challenges for people trying to cross them on foot or bicycle. They also impose health impacts such as poor air quality, traffic noise, and visual pollution on focus populations – impacts that are not necessarily felt in other communities.
Access to Basic Needs
Safer roads, better walking and bicycling conditions, and reliable bus service also play a role in improving access to our basic needs. Below are some of the major barriers to basic needs that we’ve identified for our focus areas and populations:
- Housing: Many of our focus populations live in areas with high housing cost burdens, particularly the City of Poughkeepsie’s Northside, which has very high rates of cost burdened households and the highest vulnerability index values in our analysis.
- Jobs: Limited access to jobs poses a barrier for focus populations in the Harlem Valley, due to few available jobs close by and the resulting need for workers to travel farther for work.
- Education: When looking at access to schools by walking, most focus areas have good sidewalk coverage. However, schools serving Wappingers Falls along Middlebush/Myers Corners Road (CR 93) and schools in Dover would benefit from improved sidewalk access.
- Goods & Services: Access to health care, especially pharmacies, poses a challenge for focus populations in Wappingers Falls – many residents have to cross Route 9 (a six-lane highway) to walk to a pharmacy. Access to grocery stores is limited for focus populations in Wappingers Falls and portions of the City of Poughkeepsie, making bus service to grocery stores in adjacent towns a necessity. Focus populations in Dover also lack access to grocery stores.
- Recreation: Access to rail trails is adequate for most focus populations fortunate enough to live near them, though for access to parks, sidewalk coverage could be improved in many areas.
By addressing these transportation gaps, we can help focus areas and populations gain safe and reliable access to the services they need.
Other Resources
Moving Dutchess Forward is a policy-forward plan, supplemented by transformative projects and programs to improve safety, reliability, and access across the county. Goal 3 – Advocate identifies policies and practices that can help us close transportation gaps, while Goal 4 – Invest identifies projects and programs that expand transportation access.
Our Role
There is no single solution for the barriers that we’ve identified. Solving them will rely on a combination of strategies, some of which go beyond transportation. But based on this assessment, our role should include the following:
- Reduce safety, reliability, and access barriers in identified focus areas or places with high shares of focus populations. This includes the following:
- Address transportation barriers in the City of Poughkeepsie by improving safety, reliability, and access on Route 9, the Route 44/55 arterials, Main Street, and other hotspots in the city.
- Address transportation barriers in the Village of Wappingers Falls by improving safety, reliability, and access on Routes 9 and 9D.
- Address transportation barriers in rural communities such as Dover, Milan, and Stanford by expanding transportation options.
- Tailor transportation solutions to meet the needs of specific focus areas and populations.
- Develop relationships with community-based organizations that work in focus areas or with focus populations and leverage those relationships to inform relevant practices and policies.