page_title: Taconic State Parkway
section_title: 1941–49: the war years
hierarchical_section_title: Taconic State Parkway / History / Construction / 1941–49: the war years
caption_attribution_description: English: Shenandoah service station (subsequently closed) on Taconic State Parkway in East Fishkill, NY, USA
context_page_description: The Taconic State Parkway is a 104.12-mile divided highway between Kensico Dam and Chatham, the longest parkway in the U.S. state of New York. It follows a generally north-south route midway between the Hudson River and the Connecticut and Massachusetts state lines, much of its upper section along the westernmost flank of the Taconic Mountains. Its southernmost three miles are a surface road; from the junction with the Sprain Brook Parkway northward it is a limited-access highway. It has grade-separated interchanges from that point to its northern terminus; in the three northern counties, there are also at-grade intersections, many with closed medians, allowing only right-in/right-out turns. It is open only to passenger vehicles, as with other parkways in New York, and maintained by the state Department of Transportation, the fourth agency to have that responsibility.
  Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had long envisioned a scenic road through the eastern Hudson Valley, was instrumental in making it a reality as a way to provide access to existing and planned state parks in the region.
context_section_description: The Poughkeepsie connection allowed traffic to access the new Mid-Hudson Bridge, making the Taconic a more vital link in the state road network. In 1940 traffic counts increased heavily, showing that the parkway was now being used for more than the weekend pleasure trips it was originally intended for. The TSPC erected two more service areas, Shenandoah north of Hosner Mountain Road, and Todd Hill Road, to accommodate the increased traffic. The commission also closed (permanently, as it turned out) the bridle paths along the median strip in Putnam County, unsure about how it would pay for them.
  In 1941, two developments occurred with a major impact on the highway. Early that year, Assemblyman Stephens introduced a bill similar to the one Lehman had vetoed four years earlier. This time it passed, giving the TSPC not only the $3.6 million ($62.6 million in contemporary dollars) to extend the parkway to Columbia County but putting the Westchester sections, including the entire Bronx River Parkway extension and the planned Bear Mountain Parkway, under the commission's jurisdiction. Later that year the U.S. entered World War II, putting a halt to actual construction for the duration.
  The War Department designated the Taconic a military highway, requiring it to be open for troop movements. It also deemed the Croton Reservoir bridge strategically important and had it protected by armed guards. The commission lowered the speed limit from 40 to 30 mph (65 to 50 km/h) to conserve fuel, limited maintenance to snow removal and mowing and kept streetlights off everywhere except the bridge throughout the war.
  Planning continued for the northern Dutchess stretch, to be built after the war. With the enforced break in construction, and its new authority over the entire road, the commission began to look at ways to improve what had already been built, especially in light of the road's growing role as a regional artery. The Hawthorne Circle, where the Taconic, Saw Mill River Parkway and NY 100 intersected, was the major problem. It had become a magnet for accidents and congestion. A 1944 study recommended it be replaced with a three-level grade-separated interchange.
  The study also suggested eliminating some of the more dangerous grade intersections in Westchester as well. Without the money to build new exits, the TSPC settled for larger stop signs on the intersecting roads. It would seek the money for the interchanges after the war.
  The road's northern terminus had still not been settled. In 1942 state highway commissioner H.O. Schermerhorn suggested it might be more useful if the road veered west north of Chatham towards Albany to connect to a proposed bridge over the Hudson there. The TSPC inspected the proposed route and found it would be very expensive to acquire and build, and in 1943 Schermerhorn agreed that the Taconic should continue on its planned course northwards. Three years later, in 1946, the commission also considered the Hyde Park extension proposed by the recently deceased Roosevelt, but dropped it as construction was resuming with the end of the war.
  Paving had begun that year to Clinton Corners, but the commission became embroiled in controversy over Lake Taghkanic further north. In the two decades since the TSPC had bought the property, more cottages had been built along the lake. It would be necessary to condemn 110 of them to follow the proposed route 225 feet (69 m) west of the lake, similar to how the parkway had been built at Mohansic Lake to allow for a view from the road. The owners objected, and were able to persuade their state legislators to introduce a bill requiring a new parkway alignment at least 750 feet (230 m) west of the lake and prohibiting the commission from acquiring any property along it or constructing any of the road north of Route 199 until it had acquired a new route. Governor Thomas E. Dewey signed it into law in 1946 over Moses's objections, delaying planning for two years.
  Dewey also advocated the construction of a statewide "thruway" system of limited-access divided highways that would, u
caption: The Shenandoah service station, now closed, in 1999
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