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

Quick Links