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NJ Taxpayers Might Be On The Hook For Roadwork Delays Caused By TTF Fight

by KYW's David Madden

TRENTON, NJ (CBS) -- New Jersey could well be made to pay contractors for three-and-a-half months of delays in hundreds of local road projects prompted by last summer's fight over the Transportation Trust Fund.

Governor Chris Christie halted the work from July through mid-October as the crisis played out in Trenton. Road contracts traditionally allow for charges for unforeseen delays.

Steven Schapiro at the state Department of Transportation says they'll work to deal with those extra costs.

"Typically once a project is complete, a contractor will submit those claims to whoever let the contract, whether it's a municipality or the counties," Schapiro told KYW Newsradio.

No project delay claim has been submitted to the state so far. However, Schapiro adds "Those claims need to be reviewed and then, essentially, it's part of a contractual negotiation to settle those claims. So that does take a little bit of time."

Some contractors might just extend the length of those agreements to get the work done on budget and bypass the appeal.

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