The state says feds signed off on changes and delays, but lawmakers have sticker shock.
TRENTON -- If you think spending $26 million per mile to rebuild a state highway is too much, you're not alone.
U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez is joining state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D- Union) in calling for a federal investigation into some tens of millions of dollars of what they say are questionable expenditures associated with fixing Rt. 35, damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and nearing completion this month.
"I didn't want the state looking into their own screw-ups," said Lesniak, in an interview with NJ Advance Media on Friday morning.
Teetering on a narrow spine of barrier peninsula running parallel to the Atlantic Ocean, the Rt. 35 project is one of the most expensive in state history, according to Lesniak.
Paid for with federal and state funds, the final bill to fix about 13 miles of Rt. 35 weighs in at $341 million, with 20 percent coming from New Jersey taxpayers, according to state Department of Transportation.
After the Asbury Park Press reported last week that repair costs had ballooned $76 million over budget, with $25 million of that overage paid to contractors to make up for design and planning delays, Lesniak called for a federal probe.
On Friday, Menendez's office said it will be participating in and coordinating meetings scheduled for next week between Federal Highway Administration officials and Lesniak to address his concerns, a Menendez spokesman confirmed.
Among them, New Jersey's payment of some $18.3 million to Howell-based Harms Construction crews as they sat idle on the state's payroll for months while over 13 miles of natural gas pipeline under the roadbed were replaced, according to Steven Schapiro, a spokesman for the New Jersey state Department of Transportation.
"You meant to tell me that you can't put a construction company to work on something else in this state?" asked Lesniak on Friday.
A call placed to George Harms, the CEO of Harms Construction, was not returned on Friday.
Schapiro disputed Lesniak's assertions of mismanagement.
"When there were any changes on the project, they got looked at by the Federal Highway Administration, which approved any change orders, except for $4.7 million (of the cost)," said Schapiro.
A call to a spokeswoman for the FHWA was not returned on Friday.
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In an email sent to NJ Advance Media late Friday afternoon, Schapiro added that much of New Jersey's 20 percent share of the final cost "is being reimbursed by a Federal Community Development Block Grant" and that "very little of the cost for the Route 35 reconstruction project will be paid by New Jersey taxpayers."
"NJDOT is more than willing to answer any questions from State legislators or members of Congress," wrote Schapiro.
He noted Rt. 35 was reconstructed with a new drainage system designed to be able to survive hurricanes moving forward.
However, Robert S. Young, a professor of coastal geology at Western Carolina University and an expert on developed shorelines said the senators should be more concerned about whether it made financial sense to rebuild Rt. 35 at all.
"You don't need a hurricane for beaches to disappear," said Young, noting that the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers expects most beach nourishment projects to only last between 5 and 6 years at the most, due to winter storms.
Much of Rt. 35 was demolished when Hurricane Sandy caused sea water to flood over beaches, ripping away pavement above the roadway and washing away soil below, creating sink holes.
"Because sea level is rising nationwide, in the future, our projects will not last as long, will need to be done more frequently and will cost more," Young said.
The handful of beaches running alongside Rt. 35, like Bay Head, Lavallette, Seaside Heights and Seaside Park, have spent $12 million on replenishing beach sands washed away by Sandy according to a database jointly run by Duke University and Western Carolina University.
The staggering costs of rebuilding again and again, after each winter season of nor'easters chews up the Jersey Shore, gives some environmental experts pause.
"Given the reality of climate change and rising sea levels, those in power need to ask if it makes sense to spend large sums of money in what will be a losing battle," said Ted Steinberg, a professor of law at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio and the author of "Gotham Unbound: the Ecological History of Greater New York. "Or if the money is better spent managing some sort of organized retreat from the edge of the ocean."
Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.