PWC National holds Transportation Forum on July 22; Moderated by Fife of AECOM and The Fife Group

"There's good news out there. Infrastructure renewal and reinvestment are taking place in the New York and New Jersey region," said Bill Fife, P.E., a senior consultant and retired corporate vice president of AECOM Transportation and principal of The Fife Group. Fife reprised his role as moderator of the ongoing series of Transportation Forums presented by Professional Women in Construction (PWC) National on July 22nd when he addressed a capacity crowd at the Yale Club in New York City. "Today's speakers are making the region more valuable and more productive," he said. Ernesto Butcher, COO with the Port Authority of NY and NJ (PANY/NJ), told the group that PANY/NJ is "fundamentally sound," and dealing with the realities of the economic downturn by shrinking its 10 year Capital Plan to $24.5 billion, working with a zero growth operating budget, and employing the Authority's leanest staff in 40 years. The result is a greater concentration on "infrastructure resilience": State of Good Repair and security projects. Highlights of the 2010 budget include $1.6 billion for WTC redevelopment, $504 million for the ARC Tunnel and $326 million for security. Butcher said that the Authority's commitment to participation goals extended to $358 million awarded to M/W/S/DBES in 2009 with $280 in construction. A Mentor-Protégé Program (MPP) has mentored 35 protégés with construction contract awards topping $4 million last year. Mary Murphy, executive director of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA), said that the agency, one of the nation's 350 MPOs (metropolitan planning organizations), is responsible for assessing the needs of 13 counties in central and northern New Jersey. "An MPO is at the front-end of the so-called 'project pipeline' that can lead to billions of dollars in transportation projects," she said. It is a prelude to such "implementing agencies" as the NJDOT and NJ Transit. Last year, the federal stimulus funds allocated $124 million for 62 diverse local projects selected by NJTPA. Helena Williams, president, MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), said that the MTA's five-year, 2010 - 2014 Capital Program of $26.265 billion allocates $2.554 billion for the LIRR. She emphasized that funding has only been secured for the first two years - 2010 & 2011. A proposed Small Business Mentoring Program (SBMP) would enable small businesses in the construction field to bid on larger MTA projects which "encourages competition and participation," said Williams. The LIRR and all MTA agencies anticipate awarding $10 million in contracts during the first year, increasing to over $50 million by 2014. Lynn Bowersox, assistant executive director of NJ Transit spoke of NJ Transit's 100 projects currently underway and a $1.35 billion capital program that includes station construction, bridge rehabilitation, state of good repair, and system expansion. The largest transit construction project in the nation, the ARC Trans Hudson Express (THE) Tunnel -will utilize contractors in more than two dozen trades and specialties including electrical, structural, trucking, architectural, security, environmental mitigation and other categories. NJ TRANSIT has set aggressive goals for SBE and DBE participation. A federally funded project, ARC alone will generate as many as 6,000 jobs and create $1 billion of opportunity for DBE firms. For more information about PWC and future events, contact [email protected], call (212) 486-7745 or visit www.pwcusa.org.