Newsday from New York, New York • 4

Study "Says 'New Tolls By Joseph Treen New Talk to City Transportation Adminis- trator Alexander Mautner and he will tell you that tolls on the 13 free Harlem and East River bridges are They will not cut down on air pollution he said They will not eliminate very many cars 'from Manhattan All they will do is create enormous lines at toll booths and even bigger traffic tieups Manhattan All they and It while the booths are being built But talk to the federal Environmental Protection Agency or any of a number of environmental groups 'and they will say they care Yes the city is under a federal court order to build the toll booths to cut down air pollution they say But that is not the real reason for the toll booths The real reason they say is to raise money to subsidize subway fores The nest estimate according to an unpublished State Transportation Department study is 3140 million a year "One hundred and forty million dollars equals 15 cents on the subway fare says an EPA spokesman Transportation administrator Mautner released a nine-month study of the proposed toll booths yesterday which said that if booths were installed automobile traffic in Manhattan and the Bronx would be reduced by three per cent and in Brooklyn and Queens by 15 per cent Backups of a mile could be expected at most of the major bridges In feet the reports predicted those bridges and tunnels that already have tolls will have increased traffic jams because motorists who now go out of their way to use free bridges will take direct routes instead Based on his experience with past toll hikes Mautner predicted few motorists would turn to subways or the railroads "These people are going to he said most important trip a person can make is going to work An increase in the toll Is not going to stop them1 Such seemingly tiny reductions in traffic are not to be sneered at the EPA spokesman said "A five per cent reduction is highly he said "It would remove about 30 per cent of the carbon This is true partly because tall buildings in the city tend to trap carbon monoxide and prevent it from dissipating but just a small reduction in cars would allow quicker dissipation And in some cases he said Of 1 existing traffic tieups may be eliminated by the toll plQY) TA TM A W1 1 VI A booths because toll booths on all bridges and tunnels I I £11 I 11V ky 1 i I IfllmT Ti 1 11 1 1 would permit the one-way tolls such as those in use If between New York and New Jersey he said In his report yesterday Mautner said the toll booths will not be ready by the Aug 31 1978 dead RM by akyviewa Free crossings over the East River include from foreground the Brooklyn Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges By Tom Morris Bohemia Sen John Caemmerer proposed expressed an interest in the project Connecticut Gov Ella Grasso later said in a yesterday construction of a billion-dollar bridge across Long Island Sound from mid-Suffolk County to Connecticut that would carry both vehicles and trains Caemmerer (R-East Williston) chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee said in an address yesterday to a Long bland group that be believed that a Rye-Oyster Bay bridge never would be built and that ferry service across the Sound would not be adequate in the future But Caemmerer said the effort should be made now to build the bridge which he said would "not be but which would eliminate the bicounty transportation dead end He also said it would join the "common economic in statement: The proposal is as absurd now as it was when it was first made I am unequivocally opposed to the construction of a bridge across Long Island In the past she has said such a bridge would be both unneeded and too costly Nonetheless Caemmerer said he would urge Gov Hugh Carey and Grasso to create a bistate bridge advisory commission Carey declined to comment yesterday A Port Jefferson-Bridgeport bridge just for vehicles was first suggested in 1967 by state-hired consultants at a cost of $251 million After Connecticut rejected the idea a six-year controversy over building the intrastate Rye-Bayville span ended with withdrawal of plans by then-Gov Nelson Rockefeller in June 1973 Study of possible year-round vehicular ferry service across the Sound ended in 1975 with a finding that none of the routes studied would be feasible In recent months master builder Robert Moses renewed his plea for building of the Rye-Bayville span but there was little support of New England and Long Island create jobs and aid the Long Island Railroad freight system The bridge would be financed by bonds and tolls he said adding that the cost would exceed the estimates ranging from $600000 to $900000 made several years ago He said several Connecticut state legislators had line imposed on the city by the Court of Appeals in February It will take three and a half to five years to build a total of 83 booths and will cost fixe city $65 million Mautner said Construction itself will create mqjor tieups Mautner predicted "All you have to do is close up one lane even for a few and you get a traffic Mautner said The city has tentative plans to put the toll booths for the Queensboro Bridge on the Manhattan aide of the span But the booths would be on the Brooklyn side for the other three East River bridges the Williamsburg Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges A recent Newsday poll showed that 42 per cent of Queens commuters drive to work transportation study said that 72 per cent of those driving into Manhattan use a free four out of five taking the Queensboro Bridge this rest the Brooklyn and Williamsburg bridges Because the Queensboro Bridge has two levels and many exits it will require 17 toll booths which will cost $11 million New York City tunnels and bridges with tolls are owned by the Port Authority or the Tri borough Bridge and Tunnel Authority not the city Tolls on the 13 city-owned bridges were originally proposed when John Lindsay was mayor and became part of city-state transportation plan required by the federal Clean Air Act and approved by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1973 When Mayor Abraham Beame balked at erecting the toll booths environmentalists filed suit in US District Court here The resulting court order in February also requires the city to stop taxis from cruising and to curtail parking in Midtown and Wall Street areas The city is expected to appeal One point of appeal City Corporation Counsel Bernard Richland said yesterday is the existence of nine small bridges across the Harlem River from the Bronx to Manhattan "Charging tolls for crossing these bridges is about as justifiable as charging for the privilege of crossing Fifth Avenue on a walk sign he said The lawyer for the environmental groups David Schoenbrod of the Natural Resources Defense Council said yesterday that he doubts the accuracy of the transportation administration study It is "more than an as-yet unpublished state study which shows' a nine per cent decrease in traffic if the toll booths were installed he said Ji i 1 Con Ed Gets a Rate Jolt The Consolidated Edison Co got some shocking around the commission served notice that it would news from the State Public Service Commission yes- not always go along with requests to allow higher terday: It would get a rate increase for electric ser-s but vice but only a fraction of what it had asked for profits by Con Ed The commission said it was trimming Con request that it be allowed to increase its return on equity to 15 per cent up from 135 per cent Instead the state said Con Ed would have to get by with 13 per cent But the commission did sweeten the pot for Con Ed somewhat by allowing it to charge higher electric rates during the summer months It will be allowed to increase its summer surcharge from 03 cents por kilo- Jtopor In a toughly worded decision the commission said it would allow a 19 per cent increase instead of the 104 per cent hike the utility had requested And the commission departed from past practices as it told Con Ed that it could pass along to its customers only 75 per cent of any wage settlements with its workers that it negotiates this summer Con Ed has previously been able to pass on 90 to 100 per cent of any wage increases And although the utility had asked for part of the increase based on expectations of higher New York City property taxes the commission noted that Mayor Abraham Beame has proposed a slight cut in property If that hap happens the commission taxes for next year watt hour to 075 cento per kilowatt hour The commission agreed that the higher rates are needed to help offset the extra coats of generating electricity in the peak usage summer months However the summer rates may not be all that bad for many customers since their winter rates may actually be lower to compensate lor the higher sum- said and Con Ed makes a savings as a result the sav- mer rates The commission said that the rates ings must be deducted from the pass-through it is en- will be shilled around somewhat the precise impact titled to for higher wployqe salaries of the increase on particular types of users such as And juSt because the econotAy Is staHxttg Vo htAxies coULf Hot "yet be calculated.