In tracking down New Deal projects in New York City, the chief obstacle is that Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, who was in charge of most of them, was often disinclined to give credit to FDR and the federal government for anything, and frequently failed to mention where the money or the workers for any given project really came from, or disguised New Deal funding through complicated schemes involving bond issues that make it look like his projects were funded by "investors" and "the market" when in reality the bonds were often sold to New Deal agencies such the PWA or the RFC since, after all, this was the Depression and "investors" didn't have money.
The Henry Hudson Parkway runs along the Hudson River from West 72nd Street to the Bronx-Westchester border and includes the Henry Hudson Bridge that connects Manhattan with the Bronx. The Parkway was part and parcel of the West Side Improvement project of 1934-37; the Parkway and the Park were financed and built together, as noted here. In brief, about 62% of the West Side Improvement funding was federal, 34% state and city, and only 4% private, and Moses had tens of thousands of work-relief laborers on hand for construction[4].
References:
- Caro, Robert A., The Power Broker - Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, Vintage Books (1974), pp.526-540.
- NYC Parks Dept press release of October 3, 1937: “The Department of Parks announces that on Tuesday, October 12th, the 6.7 miles of parkway now under construction in Riverside and Fort Washington Parks in connection with the West Side Improvement will be officially opened to the public, thereby adding another vital link in a great arterial express highway and parkway system for the City of New York.”
- HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD HENRY HUDSON PARKWAY HAER No. NY-334, New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (2006).
- New Deal Assistance in NYC Parks Department Projects, 1934-43.