The Westchester County sections were laid out by the county's parks commission based on the parkways they had already designed. Its engineers later worked on the design of the upper sections. In its early days, the Taconic State Parks Commission (TSPC) lacked the money to hire a full engineering staff, in spite of terrain that presented some major challenges. Its engineer, E.J. Howe, on loan from the state's Department of Public Works (DPW), frequently complained about the commission's directive that he plan a route only where it had the land or expected to buy it, instead of planning a route and then buying the land. He also began negotiations with landowners, and his position was eliminated from the commission's budget after three years. His successor clashed with his superiors as well, and after he left in 1933 the commission relied on state DPW engineers for the rest of the construction.