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The Ulster County Transportation Council (UCTC) serves as a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Kingston Urbanized area as well as a portion of the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh Urbanized Transportation Management Area (TMA). The MPO designation permits members of the UCTC to have the privilege and responsibility for making final decisions concerning transportation planning and programming of Federal aid projects in Ulster County. MPOs are comprised of local elected officials, municipal staff, the State Department of Transportation, Federal Transportation Agencies, Public Transit Operators and other transportation stakeholders who work cooperatively on local and regional transportation planning initiatives.

Programming transportation improvements in Ulster County is one of the UCTC’s most important functions. Projects identified in the UCTC’s Year 2030 Long Range Transportation Plan are prioritized by the UCTC for placement in the UCTC’s five-year Transportation Improvement Program or “TIP” utilizing several project selection processes developed by the UCTC and the New York State Department of Transportation. Any local, county or State agency intending to utilize Federal and/or State funds to advance a transportation project in Ulster County must have the project placed on the UCTC TIP. Projects programmed must comply with Federal laws and guidelines of SAFETEA-LU, Public Involvement requirements, Title VI/Environmental Justice requirements, American with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

In addition to the Kingston Urbanized Area, Ulster County is part of a larger urbanized area known as the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh Urbanized Area (locally referred to as the Mid-Hudson Valley, New York, Transportation Management Area) or TMA. TMAs are defined in Titles 23 and 49 of the U.S. Code as urbanized areas over 200,000 in population. Portions of Dutchess, Orange, and Ulster Counties together form a TMA and, as a result, are responsible for coordinating a congestion management process (CMP) as well as integrating CMP strategies with the long range transportation planning process.

The UCTC is hosted by Ulster County with full-time staff support housed in the Ulster County Planning Department.