Newsday from New York, New York • 3

Williamsburg- Bridge Panel Selects 5 Design Finalists current bridge has eight traffic lanes up to nine feet wide, and two subway tracks. When the task force was appointed last August, its members estimated that it would cost $250 million to repair the existing structure and up to $400 million to build a new one. By yesterday, however, they had revised those estimates dramatically upward. Taking into account inflation during the eight-year construction period, 100-year maintenance costs, and environ- Please see BRIDGE on Page 23 By Molly Gordy Lake Mohonk A joint city-state task force yesterday selected five finalists in the competition to design a replacement for the decrepit Williamsburg Bridge, focusing on projects that could be built over, under or around the existing structure. The finalists, culled from 25 international entries, will be whittled down to one or two by July 1.

The results will be Bent to the state and city transportation commissioners, along with the task forces recommendation on whether it would best serve the public to renovate, rebuild or replace the 85-year-old bridge. Three of the designs selected are for cable-stayed bridges, which experts say cost about 20 percent less to build than suspension bridges but tend to wear out faster. A fourth design is for a traditional suspension bridge, and a fifth combines cable-stayed and suspension, methods reminiscent of the Brooklyn Bridge. The finalists were chosen because their designs offered the easiest construction, the greatest durability, and the least disruption to traffic and Bur-rounding communities, task force members said. On a typical weekday, the Williamsburg carries an average of 104,000 vehicles and 415 subway cars.

The bridge was shut down April 12 because of structural problems caused by corrosion. Two highway lanes were reopened last Thursday. All of them can be built on the existing site, which we have come to realize is crucial, said Samuel Schwartz, the citys first deputy transportation commissioner and co-chair of the 10-member task force. Designs that were rejected included a number that would have significantly moved the span from its current location and those that called for the construction of a museum, restaurant or disco in the bridges towers. All of the finalists have roughly the same lengths as the existing 7 bridge.

Ad have six 12-foot wide traffic lanes mid three subway tracks. The Anthony Venditti Newaday John Papaslan U.S. To Try Cop Case? By Wendy Lin and Richard Esposito U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani is weighing whether to supersede the Queens district attorney and prosecute the three defendants in the shying of police officer Anthony Venditti as part of a federal racketeering case, sources told New York Newsday. Queens District Attorney John Santucci has twice unsuccessfully tried Federico Giovanelli, Steven Maltese and Carmine Gualtiere on charges that they gunned down the officer in January, 1986.

Last week Giuliani, Santucci and members of Santuccis staff who prosecuted the other trials met in Manhattan to discuss cross-endorsing members of Santuccis staff so that they could prosecute the case in the federal courts, law enforcement sources said. Giulianis office refused to comment yesterday. Santucci acknowledged that he had met with Giuliani, but added i 1 Survey Reveals Carters In City Conceal Income By William Murphy Private garbage carting companies in New York City vastly underreport their income to industry regulators, and the citys Finance Department has begun an investigation into whether the firms have been similarly underreporting on their income taxes, according to city officials. The citys Department of Consumer Affairs surveyed 37 collection routes in the five boroughs and concluded that carting companies failed to report an average of 40 percent of their stops, Consumer Affairs Commissioner Angelo Aponte said Tuesday at a budget hearing at City Hall. "This a lucrative business.

A mom-and-pop operation with two trucks will gross $1 million a year and could hide 1 Please see' CARTING on Page 23 Please see VENDITTI on Page 23 I.