Tri-State Act Gets Praise At Signing

He hailed enactment of the statute as a “signal achievement.” Noting that similar laws have twice before been enacted here, only to fail of passage elsewhere, Gov. Rockefeller said enactment of similar legislation this year by New Jersey and Connecticut means “organized transportation planning on a regional basis can go forward in an orderly, stable fashion.”

Tri-State, together with the new Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority, Gov. Rockefeller said, gives New York State “the necessary machinery both to participate in planning and to help carry out operational activities necessary to meet the difficult problems of urban mass transportation” in the area.

Tri-State will conduct surveys, submit recommendations and prepare plans designed to aid in solving the immediate and long-range transportation problems of the Metropolitan area, Gov. Rockefeller said.

It will act as a liaison between governmental agencies concerned with planning and operating improved transportation services and related facilities, he said, and will continue the work of its predecessor, the Tri-State Transportation Committee, established in 1961 by the governors of the three states.

William J. Ronan, Gov. Rockefeller’s secretary, who has been named chairman of the new Metropolitan Commuter Agency, is chairman of the Tri-State Committee.