The TSPC took advantage of several New Deal programs that Roosevelt had established upon being elected President in 1932. Funds provided under the National Industrial Recovery Act were used to build the road, while Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers based in camps at the commission's state parks improved the parks and landscaping along the highway. Roosevelt himself was no longer involved as actively as he had been in state office, but continued to make occasional suggestions, such as the location of picnic areas in Columbia County. He also took a widely publicized drive from his home in Hyde Park to the site of the 1939 New York World's Fair in 1938 that brought publicity to the new highway.