Bonds sold to build tunnel to resorts

Thursday, May 27, 1999 | 11:15 a.m.

Wednesday's sale came one day after a court declined to stop the tunnel financing. Trump has fought the tunnel, which could help some competing casinos, on grounds that the state's two-thirds share of the $330 million cost is charity for the rich.

The tunnel will connect the Atlantic City Expressway with a nearby island and Marina district. Las Vegas-based Mirage Resorts Inc., which will build casino districts in the Marina, is to pay a third of the tunnel's cost.

"You have thousands of permanent jobs created, tens of thousands of construction-related jobs created and tens of thousands jobs created indirectly as a result of this," said Peter Hartt, a spokesman for the authority.

New Jersey will receive more than $200 million a year in tax payments and fees and see numerous jobs created by the tunnel, Hartt said.

Controversy surrounding the tunnel wasn't a concern for investors, partly because the bonds were insured against default.

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