The previous road was a joke - pavement over sand. It runs through an area where the decision to build in the first place was highly questionable. Lowest ground and one of the last areas of the Monmouth County shore to be developed. Major naveau an riche area. Wet kiss with Obama allowed the expenditure to happen. There are unfriendliness at the trough gunning for Christie. Not as simple as everyone who has posted so far makes it out to be.
The former Philadelphia & Long Branch RR ran through there without incident until it was torn up and had the southbound lanes of NJ 35 built over it. Assuming another storm like Sandy hits the exact same area, the only thing that would be left is the rebuilt roadway, and that’s cost overruns notwithstanding, remember.