Taconic State Parkway | |
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Map of southeastern New York with the Taconic State Parkway highlighted in red
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Route information | |
Maintained by NYSDOT | |
Length: | 104.12 mi (167.56 km) |
Existed: | 1925 – present |
Restrictions: | No trucks; No vehicles over 10 feet |
Major junctions | |
South end: | Bronx River Parkway in North Castle |
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North end: | Berkshire Connector / I-90 near East Chatham |
Location | |
Counties: | Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Columbia |
Highway system | |
Taconic State Parkway
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Area | 7,067 acres (2,860 ha) |
Architect | Westchester County Park Commission; et al. |
NRHP reference # | 05001398 |
Added to NRHP | December 8, 2005 |
The Taconic State Parkway (often called the Taconic or the TSP and known administratively as New York State Route 987G or NY 987G), is a 104.12-mile (167.56 km) divided highway between Kensico Dam and Chatham, the longest parkway in the U.S. state of New York. It follows a generally northward route midway between the Hudson River and the Connecticut and Massachusetts state lines, along 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 (NYSDOT), 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. Its winding, hilly route was designed by landscape architect Gilmore Clarke to offer scenic vistas of the Hudson Highlands, Catskills and Taconic regions. The bridges and now-closed service areas were designed to be aesthetically pleasing. It has been praised for the beauty of not only the surrounding landscape and views it offers, but the way the road itself integrates with and presents them.