In 1929 construction began on the WCPC section, with the connector to the Taconic getting underway the following year. In April 1931 steam shovels finally broke ground at Shrub Oak for the section built by the TSPC in Putnam County. Roosevelt and Moses both spoke at the ceremony, the former suggesting he still planned for the parkway to one day reach Canada. Eight months later the two rivals were at the north portal of the triple-hinged steel suspension bridge built over the reservoir, at the longest of that type in the world at the time, for the ribbon cutting ceremony. The next day, 20,000 cars took the new road from the city into the Manhattan Hills. Along the way were public picnic grounds in three areas, and of bridle paths in the median strip.