Daily News from New York, New York • 254

Thursday! 'January 9, 1 DAILY NEWS NS 3 ST J' By MICHAEL HANRAHAN Daily News Staff Writer The head of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority said yesterday that the time has come for New York State to give consideration to building another lion vehicles. The six-lane span is 1.800 feet from tower to tower. The towers are 3G0 feet above the high-water level and are anchored 150 feet below the bed of the East River, which flows from the tip of Manhattan, along the East Side between Manhattan and Queens and then turns easterly to Long Island Sound flowing along Queens, the Bronx, and Rikers, Wards and City islands. Two tough cables The towers are held by just two cables. 3.205 feet long and 23 inches in diameter.

The cables consist of 10.952 wires and each wire consists of 37 strands. The total length of the bridge, including the approach ramps, is 13.410 feet. The total length of the wires in the cable would be more than 13.000 miles. When the Throgs Neck Bridge opened on Jan. 11, 1961, traffic on the Bronx-Whitestone span was cut by more than 50, said Schoepfer.

100 increase Last year, the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge carried more than 35 million vehicles, while the Throgs Neck Bridge carried more than 34 million vehicles, an overall increase of more than 1009b in 25 years, Schoepfer said. Rand Burgner, an aide to Schoepfer, said the TBTA "has no definite plans at this time as to location or any particular specifications for a bridge." The TBTA began construction of the Throgs Neck Bridge in October 1957 and completed the job at a cost of $92 million. Since its opening, the Throgs Neck has generated more than $575 million in toll revenues and has carried nearly 800 mil bridge across Long Island Sound. George Schoepfer, executive officer and chief engineer for the TBTA, made the observation while pointing out that Saturday is the 25th anniversary of the opening of Throgs Neck Bridge. He noted that in 1960, the then eastern-most Bronx-Whitestone Bridge carried more than 33 million vehicles between Queens and the Bronx, "which made for rush hour delays and made weekend and holiday congestion a serious obstacle to the motoring public." t- if TOLL BOOTH on Throgs Neck Bridge with Long Island-bound traffic at right, and New York City-bound traffic at top left 1 1 4 Hence, a crawl at plazas SETTING SUN can be seen just beneath Throgs Neck Bridge with Bronx-Whitestone Bridge in background as motorboat, heading eastward, churns waters of Little Neck Bay.

1 lew taig piai fSatdl By MICHAEL HANRAHAN He noted that the price of $30 for 20 tokens, in effect, negates the toll increase. "Buying tokens by the package makes the cost of each passage $1.50, which was the price before the 25-cent toll increase," said Burgner. He noted that before the increase, approximately a third of all regular bridge and tunnel commuters took advantage of advance sales of tokens. He said that since the toll increase; it is mated that two-thirds of the motorists using the toll crossings are making the advance purchases. "We expect that the more widespread use of tokens will help to speed the traffic through the plazas," said Burgner.

The TBTA has as a consequence of the increased demand for token sales "tempo! aril suspended" the use of the express lanes, where agents accept paper money and coins but do not give change or receipts or make By MICHAEL HANRAHAN Daily News Staff Writer Motorists who have been commuting across the East River to Manhattan and the Bronx have created a run on Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority tokens, officials said yesterday. Commuters have been experiencing longer than normal delays at the toll plazas since the increase in bridge and tunnel tolls went into effect on Jan. 1. The tolls were raised from $1.50 to $1.75 each way. Rand Burgner, a spokesman for the TBTA, said there has been no measurable switch in travel habits by motorists, who, it was feared, would abandon the Queens Midtown Tunnel or the Bronx-Whitestone and Throgs Neck bridges in favor of the free access bridges from Queens to Manhattan.

"What has happened is that the regular commuter who did not previously buy tokens is now buying them by trnbuWfikai.B,ufaflr. Long Island and Connecticut. Three alternate sites were proposed for a bistate span, including one from Port Jefferson to Bridgeport, Wading River to East Haven and Riverhead to Guilford. The late Gov. Ella Grasso of Connecticut and New York's then Gov.

Hugh Carey, during his first administration, both expressed early opposition to the idea. Carey, after meeting with representatives of the now-defunct Tri-State Regional Planning Commission, supported the proposal to build a bridge with the assistance of federal interstate highway funds. Suggestions also were made to create high-speed ferry links in place of a bridge, but those, too, were opposed by Grasso, who claimed that Connecticut roadways would be overburdened. Nassau Executive Francis Purcell said yesterday he still favors construction of a bridge across the Sound to a Connecticut port, but added: "Practically speaking, it will never happen, because the people on the Daily News Staff Write The idea of building another span across Long Island Sound is not a new one. A proposal during the early '70s to build a bridge from Oyster Bay to Rye, N.Y., came close to becoming a reality, but was halted as a result of opposition from Long Island residents.

Then-Gov. Rockefeller and Robert Moses, who could be considered the two greatest municipal project builders in the history of the state, wanted the project in hopes of eliminating bottlenecks through Manhattan and Queens and as a means of spurring the economic development of Long Island. Preliminary plans for the bridge and approachways already had been completed when Rockefeller, under pressure from Nassau County Republican party leaders concerned about possible losses in local elections, abandoned the project. The idea was regenerated in the late 1 WW mmmBmf0mmattlmmmmmummm mmm.