U.S. Tie to Transportation Unit Urged

Washington—Nassau County Executive Nickerson urged Vice President Humphrey yesterday to give his support to a tri-state transportation authority that would handle the metropolitan area’s transportation systems.

Nickerson, attending the vice president’s conference with the National Association of Counties, suggested that the federal government give leadership to the proposal. He was told by Humphrey that the administration was interested in urban transportation problems and that his suggestion would be considered. And Humphrey noted that President Johnson had proposed creation of a cabinet level transportation agency in his State-of-the-Union message.

Creation of such a tri-state authority with power to make and enforce decisions regarding all forms of transit in the metropolitan area has been advocated since the creation in 1961 of the Tri-State Transportation Commission, which can only make recommendations. The proposed authority would have to be approved by the legislatures of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. If it were established one of its responsibilities would be to deal with the proposed Long Island-Connecticut bridge as well as recommendations for bridge access routes and an Atlantic Expressway.

U.S. Involvement Seen

Nickerson said he made the suggestion to Humphrey because such a body would involve federal agencies, including the Department of Commerce, the Interstate Commerce Commission and the new Department of Housing and Urban Development, “and expansion of federal aid to mass transit beyond present limits.” Nickerson praised the Tri-State Transportation Commission as a step forward, but noted that its "limited authority prevented it from actually becoming involved in deciding what are the best solutions to transportation problems and actually getting involved in putting the projects to work."

During the conference yesterday Humphrey announced that the government was carrying out a nationwide survey to determine if enough hospital and nursing home space was available to handle elderly patients who would be applying under the medicare bill passed last year. The session yesterday saw delegates from 200 counties in the U.S. meet with top federal officials to be briefed on what federal programs existed that could be used to solve local problems.

Nickerson said the officials “discussed what goodies are available from this Baghdad on the Potomac,” and that he came away with lots of literature. But the day held no new revelations of federal programs not already operating in Nassau. Nickerson said: “We keep pretty much on top of every program and go after them when they come up, so there wasn’t anything I heard that I didn’t already know about.”

Suffolk County Executive Dennison said last night that Nickerson’s proposal on the tri-state transportation authority was “good long-range thinking. But our immediate problem is complete rebuilding of the Long Island Rail Road. If and when this is done, it would be time to concentrate more on interstate proposals.”