Info from Wikipedia :In the 1870s, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted envisioned a greenbelt across the Bronx, consisting of parks and parkways that would align with existing geography. However, in 1877, the city declined to act upon his plan. Around the same time, New York Herald editor John Mullaly pushed for the creation of parks in New York City, particularly lauding the Van Cortlandt and Pell families’ properties in the western and eastern Bronx respectively. He formed the New York Park Association in November 1881. There were objections to the system, which would apparently be too far from Manhattan, in addition to precluding development on the parks’ sites. However, newspapers and prominent lobbyists, who supported such a park system, were able to petition the bill into the New York State Senate, and later, the New York State Assembly (the legislature’s lower house). It appears the parkways out of Manhattan and in the Parks of the Bronx have there design based on Olmsted’s work. I am sure there were some issues with condemnation of private & public property. The public opposition came from the building of the The Henry Hudson Bridge. After that, the Henry Hudson Parkway & Mosholu Parkway connecting to the Saw Mill had much less controversy. The Major Deegan caused a “Major” split in Van Cortlandt Park getting traffic out from the Triborough Bridge and too the George Washington. Like the Cross Bronx Expressway, most wished they were tunneled through the Bronx, at least through the Park.