At a 1:30 p.m. news conference on October 7, NJ Gov. Chris Christie announced that the long-planned trans-Hudson rail-tunnel construction project will be terminated; the Governor said that the original estimated cost of $8.7 billion might actually balloon to $11–14 billion, an amount that he said New Jersey could not afford.  About $600 million had already been spent on the project; Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) said that about half of that came from federal sources and would have to be repaid.  Transportation advocates and officials in Washington said that the $3 billion pledged by the federal government toward the project would likely be spent on transportation projects in other states.  They said that Christie is expected to propose that the additional $3 billion pledged by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey be reallocated to projects within New Jersey.  (New York Times)