NEWS CONFERENCE 97

Q. Governor, the Ways and Means Committee today met on the
bridge and harbor crossing authorization bill, tacking an emergency
provision on it and also requiring that if there is a Harbor crossing,
it must be by tunnel. What's your reaction to that, Governor?

A. Well, I reflect Mr. Wolff's misgivings about the absoluteness of
the prohibition of a bridge crossing of the harbor. A tunnel costs
many millions of dollars more. I can't recall the exact figure; it
seems to me it's somewhere around 40 million dollars more for a
tunnel. I think that may be the figure, but don't quote me because I
would have to refresh my memory. I do know this, that the operating
costs of the tunnel, forgetting the construction cost, are 3 million
dollars more a year than for a crossing. This gives me some concern.
I don't think it's prohibitive in its impact. I think Mr. Wolff has
taken under consideration the possibility that a tunnel may have been
mandated.

As far as the emergency legislation feature goes, I would hope that
the votes are there to pass it because I don't like to see this project
delayed any further. Now, I understand that there's some feeling that
a referendum may occur again, but I would point out that if a refer-
endum does occur, if the bill isn't passed as an emergency bill, it will
be another two years almost before anything further can be done on
this project. And there does come a point when something does have
to be constructed.

Q. Governor, is that the authorization for a Harbor tunnel?

A. No, I was talking about the parallel Bay bridge at that point,
and they are all tied in with the same package.

Q. You won't see a need to veto a Harbor tunnel requirement?

A. Not unless Mr. Wolff provides me with a statement that it's ab-
solutely impossible to proceed under the existing set of circumstances.

Q. Is the 40 million dollars to be borrowed money with a provision
to pay by tolls?

A. Pay by tolls, yes. There is a question of what can be done with
other construction if you tie up 40 million dollars in a tunnel. That
seems to be the point of dispute. Mr. Wolff's position, as I under-
stood his briefing to me, was that other projects could go forward
simultaneously if we could have a Harbor bridge crossing instead of
a tunnel. The alternatives to some extent revolve around the possi-
bility of a one-tube tunnel at the present time. I'm not sure whether
this is good or bad, but we'll have to look into the situation.