to approximate the color of their predecessors. In 1964, I-84 was built through Dutchess and Putnam counties, giving the middle of the Taconic a limited-access intersecting route that made it possible to access the Danbury and Newburgh areas via the parkway. Other EHPA improvements included the replacement of the Hawthorne Circle with an interchange and the construction of the new southbound bridge at Croton Reservoir. The steel truss bridge was named the most beautiful medium-span low-clearance bridge of 1970 by the American Institute of Steel Construction. Moving north from Westchester, the authority sought to improve the Peekskill Hollow section, which had been so difficult to build initially. It had the highest accident rate on the Taconic, with 18 fatalities in 1965–66. The trees and cliffs kept the sun off the road, making it icy in wintertime. The EHPA planned to reconstruct a section in Yorktown in 1966, and it announced plans for a metal barrier in the middle of the road in 1967. It also planned another southbound roadway as much as to the west. Residents of the area objected to the effect it would have on Fahnestock State Park. They also feared that the hamlet of Tompkins Corners, and other residents in the area, would become isolated in a large median strip. It would also be necessary to condemn a popular summer camp for city children that had been displaced to the area when the Thruway was routed through its original land in Orange County. Due to this opposition, the EHPA abandoned any plans for a realignment around Peekskill Hollow. In 1979, with Westchester's parkways adequately upgraded, the EHPA dissolved itself and turned control of all its roads, including the Taconic, over to the Department of Public Works' successor, the state Department of Transportation (NYSDOT). The new operator established the Westchester Parkways Commission for public input and planned a program to continue the rehabilitation and upkeep of the parkways. 1979–present: DOT administration In 1980, the commuter-oriented Sprain Brook Parkway was completed to the Taconic, providing a higher-speed, signal-free means between it and the freeway portion of the Bronx River Parkway. DOT continued to remake the road in Westchester, where 90,000 vehicles used the parkway on an average day, reconfiguring exits, widening the roadways and putting asphalt over the original concrete, to the point that most of the parkway in the county bore little resemblance to its original appearance. The