KNOWLTON -- The mayor of Knowlton wants to know why the price tag of a project to build a fence along Interstate 80 has "ballooned" from an estimated $6 million to more than $64 million in just six years.

KNOWLTON -- The mayor of Knowlton wants to know why the price tag of a project to build a fence along Interstate 80 has "ballooned" from an estimated $6 million to more than $64 million in just six years.

On Sunday, Adele Starrs provided a copy of her inquiry directed to the New Jersey Treasury Department -- made in early May -- and said she has heard nothing formal in return other than a confirmation generated by the Office of Management and Budget's contact page and a follow-up telephone call.

On Monday, the New Jersey Herald sent an e-mail to the Treasury Department, seeking a comment on the status of Starrs' inquiry, receiving a reply from media relations several hours later that said, "We'll look into this now and get back to you as soon as we can."

In her submission to Treasury, Starrs provided copies of state Department of Transportation documents which show the growth of the project along less than a mile of the interstate through the Delaware Water Gap.

The idea is to build a protective fence, made of steel and reaching 50-60 feet tall, to keep rocks from the face of Mount Tammany from falling onto the highway.

Another part of the project includes a "pyramid-like" structure meant to hold back a talus slope, partially created in the 1960s when the interstate was squeezed in the space between the mountain and the Delaware River.

The DOT has claimed numerous instances of rocks falling onto the highway have caused several auto accidents, including at least one fatality.

Earlier in the spring, Starrs filed state Open Public Records Act requests for the information cited by the DOT and its consultants in determining the mile-long stretch of highway was the most likely place in New Jersey to have a rock-fall incident.

U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5, state Sen. Steve Oroho and Assemblymen Parker Space and Hal Wirths, R-24, have also requested the same information about incidents between mile posts 0 and 4.

The requests have not produced an accounting of rockfall incidents, highway maintenance logs or other data.

On Sunday, Starrs noted that the State Police, which has provided data on fatal accidents in the past six years for that stretch of road -- none of which involved fallen rock -- is trying to get further data, including accidents prior to six years ago.

The cost information which Starrs provided Treasury as part of her grievance, includes project listings from the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority which oversees federal transportation aid, and the NJDOT's current Capital Transportation Plan.

The information she provided shows other rock mitigation projects -- which include steel-mesh fences -- at $4.6 million for a project on Route 206 in Andover; $8 million for a project on Route 78 in Bethlehem; and $3.25 million for a project on Interstate 80 in Rockaway, Denville and Parsippany-Troy Hills.

In her May 10 request, the mayor, filing on behalf of the township, said "I would like to speak with the Office of Program Accountability and Audit about this cost discrepancy and the need for oversight regarding the budget of this project."

"They told me they were going to look at this," she said, "and I thought they took a genuine concern in it."

She said much of the cost is for the pyramid structure, which would be in Knowlton, with the tall steel fencing built in the Hardwick section of the highway.

The project also involves property owned by the National Park Service's Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and the state-owned Worthington State Forest.

Starrs has been against the project for some time, raising concerns about the money being spent on rockfall mitigation, rather than toward general traffic safety concerns over speed on the interstate highway, the curvy, narrow driving lanes and driver inattention.

"It (mitigation project costs) just doesn't pass the smell test," she said.