State, Mirage sign agreement on Atlantic City tunnel project

Saturday, Jan. 11, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

The agreement, reached late Friday night, sets forth the final details for construction, said Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman. The state and Mirage agreed on a funding plan in September. Details on project design and other items were still needed.

Mirage Resorts has said the tunnel and highway were essential for its plan to build a $750 million, 2,000-room casino resort in the marina district. The site is now served by U.S. Route 30. Mirage has lured two other Las Vegas casino companies to announce similar projects nearby.

Feldman said Mirage will work with appropriate state agencies in the design and construction of the roadways and tunnel. The project will link and improve access to the Atlantic City Expressway, Route 30, undeveloped land in the marina district, existing hotels in the marina district and along the Boardwalk, the Atlantic City Convention Center, which is nearing completion, and the city of Brigantine.

Construction is to begin in June. The project will take a little more than two years to build.

"The highway improvements will provide tourists, employees, residents and other members of the public with new, streamlined access to and within Atlantic City," Feldman said.

The state Department of Transportation plans to acquire up to 29 parcels for the project, including nine houses. Four of the nine homeowners have agreed to $200,000 buyouts by Mirage, but the others are subject to eminent domain.

Gov. Christie Whitman's spokeswoman, Becky Taylor, confirmed the final details were wrapped up Friday night.

Whitman said in July that the state had reached agreement with Mirage on funding, but Stephen A. Wynn, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas-based Mirage, was mysteriously silent about it.

Feldman later said the company was just getting the complex agreement written in detail.

Taylor said Wynn's organization "signed on the dotted line" Friday.