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The 845 area code is running out of potential new phone numbers - reportedly as soon as the end of the year - and some areas could soon be assigned a new area code.
Officials have not disclosed what the new area code will be.
In response, the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) announced that it has approved a new area code for the region that will include new numbers in these counties:
- Columbia;
- Delaware;
- Dutchess;
- Greene;
- Orange;
- Putnam;
- Rockland;
- Sullivan;
- Ulster;
- Westchester.
The number is expected to be activated by late in 2023.
“As the economy continues to grow, and the need for more cellular service comes apparent, there is a greater need for an additional telephone area code number,” PSC Commission Chair Rory Christian said.
“I am confident that this new area code overlay will be able to address the needs of expanded telecommunication services in the mid-Hudson region in the years ahead.”
Under the proposed plan, all existing 845 numbers would remain the same, and the new area code would only cover requests for new numbers for businesses and residents.
The plan initially called for the new area code to be implemented in the third quarter of 2024, but it was changed to 2023 as the number of requests for new numbers in the existing area has been on the rise.
In June 2000, the 845 area code was officially created as the number of phone lines using the 914 area code approached exhaustion.
Officials said that the new Hudson Valley area code, which would be created as part of an “overlay district,” would take approximately 28 years to run out of numbers.
“The overlay will result in long-term relief, with the least expense disruption and confusion to consumers,” PSC officials said. “An overlay is the appropriate means of providing numbering relief for the 845 Number Planning Area, given the prior successful overlays that have been implemented in New York over the past two decades.”
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