There goes the neighborhood, pt 2

Back in November 2003 I posted here on the Dispatch about the new housing developments going in just north of Beacon along Route 9D. Today the Poughkeepsie Journal has a front page article about the traffic mess on Route 9D that is a result of those new developments. According to PoJo, "Traffic is surging, up 13.4 percent from 2002 to 2003, when 19,265 cars a day were clocked in Wappinger, according to the most recent state Department of Transportation traffic count data... Recent, current and planned homes come to about 1,700, and there's land left."

James Wick,  chairman of the Fishkill planning board weighs in with these visionary thoughts, ''It's just going to be a mess,'' he said. ''Do you build a road and then let the people fill it up? Or, do you wait until the need is already there and react? We're always playing catch-up.'' As the chairman of the planning board, Wick is in a position to help manage the growth of new homes along 9D before it becomes another Route 9. Instead he throws up his hands and says, effectively, "eh, what are you gonna do?"