Each county in Region 8 (the lower Hudson Valley region) touches New York's premiere waterway, the Hudson River.…More Designated one of the 14 Great American Rivers by the federal government, the Hudson carries ocean-going ships as well as a great number of commercial and recreational vessels. The Hudson Valley is known both for magnificent scenery and for a host of must-see sites for American history buffs. Our region includes the state's first capital, Kingston; the United States Military Academy at West Point; historic Boscobel; the Revolutionary War battlefield at Stony Point; the home of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the FDR Presidential Library; plus numerous museums, historic mansions, performing arts centers, and other attractions for people of all ages.</p> <p>The employees of NYSDOT Region 8 are responsible for 5,963 miles of state highways and 1,143 bridges in a 4,295 square mile area. Region 8 includes 13 cities, 75 villages and 107 towns in Westchester, Ulster, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, and Columbia counties.</p> <p><b>The Regional Traffic & Safety Group</b> works to provide a safe and efficient highway environment for motorists, bicyclists, pedestrians, public transportation providers and commercial vehicle operators. Keeping our 1400 traffic signals fine-tuned and coordinated is part of our mission. Our Transportation Management Center in Hawthorne monitors the region's transportation system on a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week basis, responding to incidents and taking action to minimize disruptions to travelers. This group also identifies and corrects safety concerns, and inspects the buses (including school buses) and trucks that use our system.</p> <p><b>The Regional Maintenance Group</b> is committed to providing a safe, reliable, and environmentally compatible transportation system. We plow snow, trim trees, clear drainage basins, remove animal carcasses from our roadsides, and perform a variety of other jobs too numerous to mention. To accomplish this, the Department has maintenance facilities in each of the counties we are responsible for. It is out of these facilities that our dedicated men and women perform the tasks involved in maintaining the State's transportation system.</p> <p><b>The Regional Real Estate Group</b> acquires the property needed by NYSDOT to meet the needs of its mission, manages NYSDOT-owned properties that are not currently in use, and administers the department's outdoor advertising (sign) programs.</p> <p><b>The Regional Planning & Program Management Group</b> is involved in highway, bridge, transit, pedestrian, bicycle, freight, railroad, and aviation planning and projects. This group's work, done in cooperation with the four metropolitan planning organizations in the Hudson Valley, runs the gamut from long-range strategic planning to project-level transportation planning. This group is responsible for the fiscal management of NYSDOT Region 8's entire program of projects.</p> <p><b>The Regional Design Group's</b> professional engineers, land surveyors, landscape architects, civil engineers, engineering technicians, environmental specialists, and support personnel strive to produce transportation project designs, contract plans, specifications, and estimates that maximize transportation benefits while minimizing negative impacts and enhancing the community and the environment. This group also inspects the region's state and local highway bridges. The group designs 25-30 projects and inspects approximately 1,300 bridges each year.</p> <p><b>The Regional Construction Group</b> oversees the companies who contract construction work with NYSDOT, ensuring they perform in a safe manner and in accordance with NYSDOT's plans and specifications.</p>