Free Republic

The reconstruction of Sandy-battered Route 35 is soaking New Jersey taxpayers with tens of millions of dollars in cost overruns, an Asbury Park Press investigation reveals. The newspaper found that the project, announced by Gov. Chris Christie in 2013, is already $76 million over budget and a year behind schedule. The potential final cost of $341 million means that the 12.5-mile road construction in Ocean County will cost a jaw-dropping $27.3 million per mile — making it one of the most expensive road projects in the state. The Asbury Park Press, which called the project a “boondoggle,” found that the...

On a small island in Barnegat Bay, hundreds of birds that didn't exist in New Jersey 30 years ago bask in the summer sun. Suddenly, they all take flight, oddly elegant and vaguely prehistoric, with 6-foot wing spans and the most recognizable bills in the animal kingdom. They are brown pelicans, described by naturalist John James Audubon as one of America's "most interesting birds." They are also one of the Jersey shore's newest residents, joining other top-of -the-food-chain bird predators including the peregrine falcon, the osprey and the royal tern to form a new avian golden age on Barnegat Bay....