9. The Provision of Suitable Transportation Facilities and Services to Accommodate Automobile, Bus, Rail, Pedestrian, and Bicyclist Travel Both Within the Community and to Regional Employment and Service Centers.

The ability to transport people and goods in a safe and efficient manner is constantly challenged by intensification of land use and the introduction of further development activity. Without an adequate and balanced transportation system, including properly-designed and maintained roads, sidewalks, pedestrian trails, bikeways, parking areas, and, accomplishing this task, the quality of life diminishes, and the costs of moving people, goods and services increases, whether measured in terms of dollars, time and convenienceô or safety. The Town of Red Hook seeks to ensure that such transportation improvements and facilities are provided consistent with the character of the community and the needs of the Town's residents by:

a. Monitoring existing traffic conditions and movements, both vehicular and pedestrian, throughout the community, identifying existing traffic problems, and devising action oriented strategies to correct or alleviate identified capacity or safety deficiencies.

b. Basing access and related decisions on the concept of developing a roadway system which clearly distinguishes the functions of local, collector, and thru roads.

c. Encouraging project design and/or related highway improvements that maintain or improve the capacity of major and collector roadways to accommodate current and projected traffic volumes without fundamental changes in the appearance and character of these roadways.

d. Minimizing the number of authorized access points on major and collector roadways.

e. Requiring safe pedestrian access in the design of all commercial sites, and further requiring service roads, combined parking areas, and strong pedestrian linkages between individual establishments within areas of concentrated business activity

f. Ensuring that adequate off-street parking is provided for all developments, both residential and non-residential.

 

g. Regional employment and service centers, including the installation of necessary appurtenances, such as a bus shelter within a Village or hamlet center.

h. Encouraging the restoration of passenger rail service at viable locations within the Town of Red Hook, i.e. Barrytown and/or Tivoli, consistent with the prospective efforts to extend Metro North. Supporting the best possible design of all transportation facilities to enhance the appearance of the community and to serve local needs, while complementing, to the extent essential, the regional system.

i. Supporting the further development of bus service within the Town and further the commuter rail service northward from its present terminal in Poughkeepsie.

j. Providing a local network of sidewalks, paths, and multi-use trails for day-to-day pedestrian movements within and between developed areas of the community.

k. Supporting the development of a community-wide park system, including a multi-modal network of bikeway, equestrian and pedestrian facilities, connecting residential neighborhoods and community centers, recreation sites, and other publicly-accessible open spaces.

l. Encouraging the concentration of development near established land uses, and the use of cluster development and related techniques throughout the community, to reduce the extent of new roadway construction within the town.

m. Maintaining and developing a road system that remains sensitive to the historic and scenic resources of the community and consistent with traditional routes of travel between Village and hamlet centers.