The Taconic begins at Kensico Circle, just south of Kensico Dam, in the town of North Castle, also the northern terminus of the Bronx River Parkway, at that point a surface road. The roadway here is narrow, with two lanes in either direction divided by a metal box beam median barrier. It curves northwest to a traffic light at Cleveland Street in the hamlet of Valhalla. The Valhalla station on Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line is on the west side, with the downtown area on the east. It is the only densely developed community the road goes through rather than near.