We want to see transportation investments that save lives, improve health, protect green spaces, provide our residents more options to get around, and support vibrant and attractive communities to live, work, and shop.
Safer roadways for all people
Over 1000 people are killed each year on New York state roads. While NYSDOT claims that widening Route 17 is a “safety” project, the reality is that the highest rates of crashes are on our local roads and intersections, not on Route 17. Many of these deaths could be prevented with safety measures and better roadway design.
Fix the damn potholes
New York State motorists have to navigate potholes and rough conditions due to a huge backlog of repairs and deferred maintenance on our roads and bridges. According to New York State Senator James Skoufis, over 60% of roads in the Hudson Valley are in poor condition. These deficiencies create dangerous conditions and unnecessary damage to our vehicles and costs to our families, causing us to shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars from our pockets to fix suspensions, tires and frames. A major reason that these driving conditions deteriorate is that NYSDOT short-sightedly prioritizes spending money on expanding highways, before fixing the streets and roads we already have that are falling apart. It would be sensible to prioritize repairs before expanding the road network, just like in your own house you would fix a leaky roof before expanding your living room. Additionally, redirecting funding to fix our current roads and infrastructure would continue to provide work for local unions.
Vibrant downtowns - Connect Communities and Businesses
Small businesses are the lifeblood of our region. They provide jobs, tax revenues, and connect us and contribute to our lives in meaningful ways. We want to see investments that help support the viability of small businesses in our hamlets and downtowns, not massive highway widening that will subsidize nationally-owned big box stores and warehouse development along the highway.
More Transit Opportunities
Wouldn’t it be great to have the freedom and choice to not have to drive everywhere? We want to see more regional transit options to connect to destinations like Middletown, Newburgh, Woodbury, LegoLand, Kingston, and New York City. Our region is home to many seniors, youngsters, people with disabilities, and others who choose not to drive, cannot drive, or can’t carry the expense of car ownership.. Many of the transit and social service agencies in the Catskills region that provide public transit have thoughtful plans to improve their frequency and coverage, but those plans go unfunded while NYSDOT allocates money to highway expansions.
More Sidewalks, Bikeways, and Trails
Providing safe places to walk, bicycle or roll supports public health, social engagement, and keeps dollars in our communities. These facilities also reduce the demand for driving and thus reduce traffic congestion on our roads. For a fraction of what NYSDOT proposes to spend on a highway project, we could build hundreds of miles of sidewalks and trails in neighborhoods all over our region.
Demand Management/ Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) approaches
A relatively small investment in modern traffic signal technology on our roads at key intersections is a cost-effective way to make traffic flow better. Our state and local governments should get up to date with these cost-effective approaches that help manage demand on our roadways, maximizing the efficiency of our existing roads, and ease specific bottlenecks.