Welcome to Resilient Ways Forward
An assessment of climate change and its impacts on transportation in Dutchess County
Route 44, Town of Amenia
The Resilient Ways Forward Transportation Resilience Improvement Plan (RWF TRIP) outlines a path forward for making today’s transportation system more resilient to our changing climate.
Click below to read it!
Our Changing Climate
Our changing climate affects how we live, travel, and play in Dutchess County. Some of us already feel these impacts in how we heat and cool our homes, how much we pay for food, or even how we think about the future.
Events like superstorms, hurricanes, heat waves, extreme winds, and snowstorms damage our infrastructure and disrupt transportation services. How and where we have built infrastructure and provided services may no longer be adequate. And while the impacts of a changing climate may not be all negative, they still require us to adjust the way we build, maintain, and think about our transportation system. These changes present us with challenges, as well as opportunities, to create a more resilient transportation system that minimizes disruptions to our lives and better prepares us to meet the uncertainties of a changing climate.
The Dutchess County Transportation Council (DCTC) is committed to creating a more resilient transportation system to better handle future climate uncertainties. The DCTC launched Resilient Ways Forward (RWF) to better understand and address climate vulnerability across the county.
Resilient Ways Forward identifies locations where our transportation system is most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as flooding, extreme temperatures, and wind. It also recommends ways to adapt to or reduce the adverse impacts of climate change on our transportation system.
The RWF Transportation Resilience Improvement Plan summarizes the study’s findings and outlines a path forward with strategies, project ideas, and recommendations for making our transportation system more resilient to the changing climate.
Click through our website to learn more about each of the key pieces, guided by the questions below.
Climate Hazards Analyzed
FLOODING
EXTREME
HEAT
WIND
WINTER CONDITIONS
DROUGHT
LANDSLIDES
This Climate Vulnerability Assessment, titled Resilient Ways Forward, will identify locations where our transportation system is most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as flooding, extreme temperatures, and wind.
It will also recommend ways to adapt to or reduce the adverse impacts of climate change on our transportation system – which includes roads and bridges, buses and trains, sidewalks, rail trails, and other strategic transportation assets, and touches state, regional, county, and local agencies alike.
Climate Hazards to be analyzed
FLOODING
EXTREME
TEMPERATURE
WIND
WINTER CONDITIONS
DROUGHT
LANDSLIDES
How is the climate changing?
Where are we vulnerable?
What can we do?
Data Collection Resources
• Climate Change Summary Report
• Climate Change Fact Sheet
Analysis Resources
• Phase 1: Vulnerability Assessment (System-Level)
• Phase 2: Vulnerability Assessment (Asset-Level)
• Vulnerability Assessment Fact Sheet
Recommendations Resources
• Transportation Resilience Improvement Plan
• Recommendations Fact Sheet
Stakeholder and Public Input
Online Interactive Map
Virtual Public Meeting #1
Virtual Public Meeting #2
Winter 2022 – Spring 2023
How is the climate changing?
Step 1: Data Collection
• Gather climate and transportation data
• Identify communities that face inequities or disparities
• Assess future climate scenarios
Stakeholder and Public Input
Online Interactive Map
Summer – Fall 2023
Where are we vulnerable?
Step 2: Analysis
• System Level: Understand risks of climate hazards for transportation assets
• Asset Level: Identify priority locations for adaptation investments
Stakeholder and Public Input
Virtual Public Meeting #1
Winter 2023 – Spring 2024
What can we do?
Step 3: Recommendations
• Toolbox of adaptation options
• Design guidelines
• Policy-based actions
• Implementation plan
• Monitoring and update plan
Stakeholder and Public Input
Virtual Public Meeting #2