In early July, Metro-North Railroad opened 6-mile northward extension of its Harlem Valley commuter rail line. The extension reaches two new stations, at Tenmile River and Wassaic. The Wassaic station will feature a connection to the Harlem Valley rail trail, which runs north of Wassaic to Columbia County. The rail-trail link to the Wassaic station should be done during 2001.

Officials billed the project as Metro-North's first expansion since 1983, when the railroad was established. "The whole suburban area is pushing northward," MTA Chair Virgil Conway told the NY Times.

That perception has driven deep concerns about another Metro-North expansion -along the Hudson line, which presently stops at Poughkeepsie. Railroad officials announced last October they were slowing that project due to outcry that the project could worsen sprawl development pressures in northern Dutchess County (MTR #'s 242, 226).