Transportation Network

New Castle’s liv­abil­i­ty is affect­ed by the ease of move­ment around Town and between and with­in the ham­lets. In New Cas­tle, it is easy to trav­el north to south and vice ver­sa; NYS Routes 134, 100, 117 and 128 and the County’s Pines­bridge and Sev­en Bridges Roads pro­vide easy vehic­u­lar access between the Town’s north­ern- and south­ern-most bound­aries, and into neigh­bor­ing munic­i­pal­i­ties. Trav­el­ling from east to west is less sim­ple; NYS Route 120, NYS Route 133 and Roar­ing Brook Road pro­vide less effi­cient tran­sit in an east-to-west direc­tion between the ham­lets. While east-to-west traf­fic flow is expect­ed to remain lim­it­ed pri­mar­i­ly because of exist­ing envi­ron­men­tal and topo­graph­ic con­di­tions, this Plan estab­lish­es goals to enhance exist­ing con­nec­tions and estab­lish alter­na­tive trans­porta­tion link­ages between the ham­lets and major des­ti­na­tions with­in the Town and region. 

As was the case in 1989, pri­vate­ly owned vehi­cles still pro­vide the pre­dom­i­nant method of trans­porta­tion in New Cas­tle today. As car com­pa­nies intro­duce autonomous or ​“self-dri­ving” cars into the auto­mo­tive mar­ket­place over the next few years, depen­dence on auto­mo­biles is unlike­ly to change since such vehi­cles might enable pri­vate trav­el by those who are unable to dri­ve inde­pen­dent­ly. Besides school bus ser­vice, there is cur­rent­ly inad­e­quate pub­lic or alter­na­tive trans­porta­tion net­work that pro­vides link­ages with­in the Town. In regards to pub­lic trans­porta­tion and trans­porta­tion link­ages with munic­i­pal­i­ties in the sur­round­ing region, both Mill­wood and Chap­paqua are each served by a Westch­ester Coun­ty Bee Line bus. Bus route #19 from Pleas­antville through the Chap­paqua ham­let and con­tin­ues into the Vil­lage of Mount Kisco, while bus route #15 trav­els from Bri­ar­cliff and Mt. Pleas­ant through the ham­let of Mill­wood into the Town of York­town. Ser­vice can be infre­quent and incon­sis­tent, which can affect utilization.

Con­verse­ly, the Chap­paqua Train Sta­tion, which pro­vides access to Metro North’s Harlem Line and a fifty- minute aver­age train ride to New York City, is high­ly uti­lized by Town res­i­dents and non-res­i­dents alike.

This is the only train sta­tion with­in the Town. As such it is worth not­ing that res­i­dents also use train sta­tions locat­ed in Mount Kisco, Ossin­ing and else­where, depend­ing on the prox­im­i­ty of the train sta­tion to their place of res­i­dence. Every week day, the com­muter park­ing lots abut­ting the train sta­tion in the Chap­paqua ham­let, which pro­vide over 1,300 park­ing spaces, fill to n ear capac­i­ty by ear­ly to mid-morn­ing. Dur­ing peak peri­ods, queu­ing of cars affects the flow of traf­fic in and out of the train sta­tion and slows vehic­u­lar cir­cu­la­tion through­out the ham­let. In addi­tion, over­flow­ing pub­lic park­ing lots, a lack of wayfind­ing sig­nage and the design of Chappaqua’s cir­cu­la­tion sys­tem can make it dif­fi­cult for dri­vers, espe­cial­ly those unfa­mil­iar with the Chap­paqua ham­let, to park and shop. 

The rede­vel­op­ment of Chap­paqua Cross­ing as a mul­ti-use tra­di­tion­al neigh­bor­hood designed cam­pus cur­rent­ly includes the pro­vi­sion of a jit­ney con­nec­tion to the Chap­paqua Ham­let and the Metro North rail­road sta­tion. Expand­ing alter­na­tive trans­porta­tion con­nec­tions, such as the jit­ney, between the Mill­wood and Chap­paqua ham­lets and cre­at­ing smoother cir­cu­la­tion with­in down­town Chap­paqua (par­tic­u­lar­ly in regards to traf­fic flow and park­ing dur­ing week­ends and peak com­mute times) would great­ly improve mobil­i­ty for New Cas­tle res­i­dents. While it is like­ly that the pri­ma­ry method of trans­porta­tion will remain the pri­vate­ly owned car, Town res­i­dents have expressed desire for com­mu­ni­ty and pub­lic trans­porta­tion as well as solu­tions for a strained park­ing sup­ply. This Plan pro­motes devel­op­ment that acknowl­edges grow­ing park­ing demand, seeks to increase reliance on the use of alter­na­tive trans­porta­tion and prop­a­gates the poli­cies put forth in the TDP in sup­port of the expan­sion of side­walks, trail­ways and bike lanes. Estab­lish­ing visu­al cir­cu­la­tion aids, such as wayfind­ing and oth­er sig­nage, will also help facil­i­tate more cohe­sive con­nec­tions between the ham­lets and oth­er promi­nent des­ti­na­tions, both with­in the Town and the region.

Housing Alternatives and Infill Development

Water and Sewer Infrastructure