Traffic Discussion -- 
Farms and Orchards around New Paltz

Overall

Some  high-speed traffic sections, but many quiet roads.  There's a few road segments which are not really quiet but are not that wide and or do not have shoulders (like some sections of Ulster County Route 7).  

If you're not skilled and comfortable with handling that sort of traffic situation, you should consider choosing a different route.  But it seems to us that many bicycle routes in the Hudson Valley have road segments with comparable motor vehicle traffic interaction risks. 

To do some riding around New Paltz with much less motor vehicle traffic interaction, try the New Paltz South - Rail Trail (Wallkill - Horse Farm variation).

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Details

There are some road segments on this route which are not wide, and they seem to us to get more traffic, and some at higher speeds, then we would wish -- and so they seem to us to have greater motor vehicle traffic interaction risk than the quieter roads.

Except for Springtown Rd in its current condition, it seems to us that many bicycle routes in the Hudson Valley have road segments with comparable motor vehicle traffic interaction risks.  

We prefer to take such roads in the downhill direction.  And when it other fits, we also prefer to ride them at times when they have less traffic.

Here's a discussion of some of these road segments:

• Rt 299 just West of New Paltz, including the Wallkill River bridge -- this is short, but unavoidable if you start in the village of New Paltz itself.
• Ulster County Rt 10 -- possibly lacks good visibility for a brief period at a hill crest. 
• Plattekill-Ardonia Rd -- a short section, somewhat uphill, but with reasonable visibility.
• Bruyn Turnpike -- the Wallkill River bridge is short, and has the sidewalk as an alternative.  The rest is gently uphill to the West, and fortunately less than half a mile.
• Ulster County Rt 7, south of Rt 299 (starts as Bruynswick Rd) -- Especially the section between Ulster County Rt 9 and Rt 299 can get a significant amount of traffic.  We don't see any visibility problems between UC Rt 9 and Albany Post Rd.  But there is a possible lack of good visibility at a dip with a curve in the segment between Albany Post Rd and Rt 299 (not on this route). 
• Ulster County Rt 6 -- this segment has a sharp rise, which perhaps lacks good visibility for a brief period.  We do not see a preferred direction.

We selected the overall direction of this route as clockwise, because that takes most of those road segments in our preferred direction.

"East of the Wallkill River" Variation

This variation is discussed in Traffic into New Paltz in the section Ohioville -- Rt 299 -- Hasbrouck, and also the Brookside Variation, and taking Brookside from the north.

More

See further discussion of 

traffic patterns into and out of the village of New Paltz

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