The Dutchess County Transportation Council (DCTC) serves as the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Dutchess County, New York. In accordance with the provisions set forth in 23 U.S.C. 134 and 49 U.S.C. 5303, the DCTC is tasked with carrying out a comprehensive multimodal transportation planning process for the metropolitan area. This includes the development of plans and programs that promote the safe and efficient movement of people and goods across all modes of transportation. The DCTC, hosted by the Dutchess County Department of Planning and Development, periodically uses its federal planning funds to support consultant services that help carry out various aspects of its planning work.
As an MPO, the DCTC is responsible for ensuring that federal highway and transit funds are committed through a locally driven, comprehensive planning process. The DCTC provides a forum for state and local officials to coordinate transportation issues and reach consensus on transportation plans and funding for transportation projects. The DCTC strives to ensure that federally funded projects are the products of a credible planning program, meeting the goals and priorities of the metropolitan area.
One of the key products of the DCTC’s metropolitan transportation planning process is the completion of a Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP): a long-range transportation plan that recommends policies and projects to build and maintain a safe, efficient, and convenient transportation system. The DCTC updates the MTP every five years and it must address no less than a 20-year planning horizon. The current MTP, Moving Dutchess 2, was adopted in 2016 and therefore a new MTP is required by March 2021.
