NEWS CONFERENCE 119

A. I think without any question the Harbor crossing has to be the
first in priority.

Q. Why do you say that?

A. That's what my experts on the State Roads Commission indicate
must be done before anything else.

Q. Governor, would you settle for a tunnel rather than a bridge
across the harbor if the Legislature remains adamant?

A. Well, obviously, I'm not personally in favor of a tunnel, and if
I can review these reasons very briefly: they are because a tunnel costs
between $30 million and $40 million more, because it costs between
$2 million and $3 million a year more to maintain in operating costs,
and because it doesn't lend itself to any degree of flexibility in being
extended to cover additional lanes in the future. But if the tunnel is
the only resort, then we have to go with the tunnel because the situa-
tion is such, the growth of traffic is such according to Mr. Wolff and
the other State Roads people, that we will have some very serious
stoppages in coming years unless we get to this thing fairly quickly.
And we must remember that even though we approve it this year, it's
not going to be functional for two or three years.

Q. Are you saying that building the tunnel is first?

A. I guess I am saying that, and I don't think it's ever been any
mystery that the tunnel is the highest priority enterprise we have.

Q. Well, what is second, Governor, the upper bridge?

A. I don't have any idea what's second. We are talking about what
must be done immediately.

Q. What was the purpose of this bill, then, if the Legislature last year
authorized the immediate construction of the tunnel?

A. The purpose is to take away from the very volatile political cli-
mate the determination of each bit of construction as it comes to im-
mediacy. I don't know right now whether a parallel bridge should be
begun this year, next year, or the year after; I'm not certain about the
scheduling of the upper bridge crossing. I do know that we have got
to go ahead with this Harbor crossing quickly. I talked with Mr. Wolff
this morning about that.

Q. Governor, when this bill was introduced to have a tunnel, you
told us that a new study would have to be made by the SRC. Are you
saying those studies have been made and are complete?