Russ Zimmer

@RussZimmer

Cost overruns for reconstructing 12.5 miles of the superstorm Sandy-battered Route 35 have topped $76 million - including paying contractors millions of dollars to remain idle for months - making it one of the most expensive roadway projects in the state's history, an Asbury Park Press investigation found.

The final price tag for the reconstruction will hit $341 million — a cost that is 31 times more per mile than a typical road cost in New Jersey, the Press found. That is three times the money the state government spends each year to keep its bridges in working order.

Because of the overruns, state taxpayers will likely end up footing a greater share of the reconstruction costs for the largest federally funded Sandy transportation project in New Jersey.

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The work on Route 35, which is the only thoroughfare between Seaside Heights and Bay Head on Ocean County's northern barrier peninsula, is a year behind schedule, but is set to be mostly done by May 15.

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If current budget projections hold firm, the average cost, per mile, would come in at $27.3 million. That's 30 percent higher than the per-mile cost for building the Garden State Parkway in the1950s, after inflation is factored in.

All told, the $76 million cost overrun accounts for 29 percent of the final price tag, the Press found. Despite repeated requests from the Press, government officials still can't explain how $23 million in cost overruns were spent.

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The Route 35 project was "snakebitten" from the start, said Anthony Attanasio, an assistant commissioner of the state DOT until April 2014. He now works for the construction industry as executive director of the Utility & Transportation Contractors Association of New Jersey.

"If I was just a guy who worked for the contractors' association and didn't know the background, I would have said, 'Whoa, that’s a huge overrun'," he said of the $76 million in unplanned spending. "Knowing what I know, it doesn’t surprise me."

Kam Movassaghi, former head of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, told the Press that 5 percent to 10 percent is a good baseline for cost overruns on a large-scale government project — not 29 percent.

While federal dollars will fund most of the work, New Jersey and its taxpayers will be squeezed for $104 million of the bill.

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State and federal transportation officials have long said that they laid out an aggressive timeline for reclaiming the sole artery from the devastation of Sandy. Their "fast tracking" of the work, however, ended up backfiring, costing time and money.

Among the $76 million in overages was nearly $25 million paid to contractors to make up for 592 days worth of design- and planning-related delays. This is how that costs break down:

$18.3 million: All road construction was stopped to allow an additional 8.4 miles of natural gas pipes under the road to be replaced. The state agreed to pay contractor George Harms Const. Co. $18.3 million to essentially stop work while the pipeline was installed.

All road construction was stopped to allow an additional 8.4 miles of natural gas pipes under the road to be replaced. The state agreed to pay contractor George Harms Const. Co. $18.3 million to essentially stop work while the pipeline was installed. $2.3 million: The state decided at the last minute to stop all work during the 2014 summer — instead of only restricting it in some areas. The state paid contractors $2.3 million to lock-up their equipment and secure the idled work sites.

The state decided at the last minute to stop all work during the 2014 summer — instead of only restricting it in some areas. The state paid contractors $2.3 million to lock-up their equipment and secure the idled work sites. $3.9 million: George Harms, one of three major contractors on the project, stands to collect an additional $3.9 million in bonuses if it can shave a half-year off the delay to its section of the project. Work could have stretched through to the fall without the incentive.

All told, there were 41 change orders for a total of $52.9 million in extra costs submitted by the three contractors — Agate Construction, George Harms and Union Paving and Construction — and approved by project managers. That includes the $24.5 million the contractors received for not working during design and summer delays.

Those added construction costs, and the $23 million in unexplained cost overruns, totals to $76 million.

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None of the contractors returned messages seeking comment.

“Those numbers are mind-boggling,” said Barry LePatner, a construction contract attorney and reform advocate who the Press consulted on interpreting the Route 35 budget. "A suspension of work shouldn't add up to ($25 million) in labor costs."

"Usually, too often, somebody is telling the bureaucrats to 'Let it go, we’ll get that money from the federal government'," he said. "A well-prepared construction contract anticipates the possibilities of suspensions of work."

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Richard Hammer, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation, did not respond to requests seeking comment. In an email sent late Friday afternoon, DOT spokesman Steve Schapiro said Route 35 "was not a simple 12.5 mile mill and pave job."

He added: "The devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy left Route 35 severely compromised, and any discussion of costs must include the totality of work that was accomplished."

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The department "reconstructed 43 lane miles of Route 35, which is the total number of lanes throughout the project; reconstructed the interchange between Route 35 and Route 37 at the Mathis and Tunney Bridges; and built a new drainage system with nine pump stations that can withstand a 25-year storm."

Schapiro added: "The project included more than 60 miles on new water, sewer, and drainage pipes, 25 miles of new or reconstructed sidewalks, as well as bike accommodations. To simply divide the cost of the project by the distance of roadway reconstructed is wrongly simplifying the enormity and complexity of the project."

A spokeswoman for the Federal Highway Administration said the federal government picked up $237 million of the tab for Route 35, or about 70 percent of the estimated final bill.

That's about $35 million below the 80 percent cost share — powered by Sandy relief aid — originally pledged by the federal government.

Why was New Jersey compelled to kick in more money? The feds refused to sign off on several cost adjustments, including the $2.3 million paid to contractors to step away from the work sites during the 2014 summer. They attributed the overages to decision-making by New Jersey officials.

"As for the work stoppage implemented by the state during the summer of 2014, this was also fully a state decision," said Nancy Singer, a spokeswoman for the Federal Highway Administration. "Accordingly, no federal funds were used for any costs incurred."

How it started

Residents and businesses on the island just want things to go back to normal.

"Yes, we’re glad to have it over with but somebody should really look at how much it costs to build highways in New Jersey," said Paul Jeffrey, who lives on Bay Boulevard in the Toms River section of Ortley Beach.

After flood waters from Sandy overran the roadway, Route 35 was impassable. Chunks of pavement were ripped from the ground and dragged off by the storm surge. Seawater infiltrated voids underneath the asphalt. Huge sinkholes formed and collapsed entire intersections.

As a consequence, the state was not merely replacing Route 35, but instead is making what it says is "a state-of-the-art roadway" — one that will be able to survive the next hurricane. Notable features include:

The pavement is built to last 50 years and was designed with one eye toward ride quality and the other toward improved stormwater drainage.

The drainage has been engineered to handle all but the most powerful storms.

Miles of dedicated bicycle lanes have been added as well as a continuous sidewalk on the northbound side of the road.

Miles of new gas, sewer and water lines were replaced under the road.

Fewer than 7,000 people live on this stretch of Route 35 and many of them are affluent. The standard household in Mantoloking, for example, earns more than double the typical family in New Jersey, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Seaside Heights, though, is a popular summer tourism municipality that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors a year. Other communities, such as Mantoloking and Bay Head, shy away from heavy tourism and protect their quiet residential nature.

Route 35, however, is the only roadway that offers access to this area, which has more than $4 billion worth of private property.

What happened?

As the recipient of millions in federal Sandy aid, the Route 35 project was subject to oversight from an independent monitor, who noted in a September 2015 report there were "numerous change orders."

A change order is a document submitted by a contractor to pay for work or material that goes beyond the scope of the contract. The Press obtained all the change orders using the Open Public Records Act.

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In addition to those construction overruns, the project's non-construction costs — design and engineering included — ended up about $23 million over budget. The Press made requests over a week, but New Jersey officials have yet to detail how this money was spent.

Attanasio, the former state DOT commissioner, said the project's designers were essentially blind to what utilities were beneath the road because the available plans proved time and again to be inaccurate. This created a stop-and-start pattern — contractors would dig down and find an unmarked gas pipe, then they would have to call the gas company and wait for it to inspect or replace the pipe.

With another four to six months of planning, the state's planners could have performed advance work that would have saved money, he said.

“The biggest constraint was the time," he said. "The governor made it very clear that he wanted that road built in the best shape as soon as possible because of what it meant to the people who live there and the economy.”

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Gov. Chris Christie announced the planned resurrection of Route 35 — along with a loose blueprint and timeline — on Feb. 19, 2013, fewer than four months after Sandy laid waste to the New Jersey coast.

"Our goal is to substantially complete the project before the start of the summer 2015 season," said Jim Simpson, who was commissioner of the state DOT at the time.

"If you're wondering why the project's going to take a few years, let's be clear," Christie said during the press conference. "This is not just a resurfacing job. What we're going to do here is to get under to the entire driving surface and the drainage system that was destroyed underneath the roadway."

But compressing a timeline on a road project doesn't mean skipping steps, said Movassaghi, the former Louisiana transportation chief. It means doing them at the same time and hoping one task doesn't impede another.

“You have to have that information, whether you do it sequentially — one after another — or you do it at parallel with other work," he said. "Obviously the cost of doing it parallel is higher.”

About $304 million had been spent as of the end of 2015, according to a monitoring report filed with the New Jersey Department of Treasury. The project is expected to be substantially completely by May 15. Final inspections and approvals are expected to conclude in June.

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Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@app.com