Chief Engineer of Port Authority NY/NJ Rizwan Baig Visits NJIT
Rizwan Baig, chief engineer of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, visited NJIT to give a presentation on building the 21st-century transportation system. His talk, covering the architectural, design, construction and asset management aspects of the agency, highlighted the agency’s plan to revitalize infrastructure that is essential to economic growth and vitality.
Baig is a transportation industry leader with over 35 years of extensive engineering leadership experience. In 1990, he began his career with the Port Authority as a junior engineer, and now serves as the chief engineer.
While discussing near- and far-term challenges and considerations — climate change, transformative technologies, mobility revolution and generative AI — he also offered details on the recent developments taking place with the Port Authority NY/NJ. Newark Liberty International Airport’s new Terminal A is one such project.
Terminal A recently was awarded Skytrax's five-star terminal certification. In addition, Terminal A achieved LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. The $2.7 billion terminal represented both the Port Authority’s largest-ever single investment in New Jersey and the state’s largest design-build project.
The agency is also planning a new design for the Port Authority Bus Terminal (PABT) in Manhattan. The PABT is the gateway for most bus and jitney traffic entering Manhattan. It is not only the nation's largest bus terminal, it's also the world's busiest serving an estimated 260,000 passenger trips on a busy weekday.
“The new terminal will provide 40% additional capacity, allowing curbside intercity buses that currently pick up and drop off on city streets surrounding the bus terminal to move their operations inside the bus terminal and off the street, and that will reduce congestion and improve the carbon emissions,” said Baig.
The new terminal will include an iconic atrium, and it will also include sustainability and resilience measures from LEED, and emphasizes the importance of designing with sustainability at the forefront.
“Sustainability is one of the official core priorities of the Port Authority,” said Baig. “In 2018, the Port Authority of NY/NJ became the first public transportation agency in the United States to embrace the Paris Climate Agreement. We are the first agency to adapt to the Paris Climate Agreement. We have set aggressive interim greenhouse gas reduction targets, that call for 35% reduction by 2025, 50% reduction by 2030, and net zero by the end of 2050.”
Also speaking to operational strengths, Baig commented on the importance of a diverse workforce, which stem from a diverse student population.
“I love coming to NJIT,” he said. “That's why I love walking the campus and seeing how you all get along with each other, how you act as one team. As you can see, we are all different, and that gives us our strength.
“Don't let anybody tell you that that's the weakness; it’s not a weakness, it’s strength. When people from different backgrounds cooperate and contribute, understand each other, offer a variety of perspectives and ideas, it leads to innovation and new ways of thinking and problem solving.”
To close out his presentation he offered advice to the students. “I have risen through the ranks before I became the 12th chief engineer, and the very first Asian-American chief engineer of the Port Authority in January of last year,” he said. “To play on this Port Authority All-Star team, you must earn your spot. I'm telling you don't get to be part of this team, if you don't earn your spot, you have to earn your spot.
“I have always thought that this specific position represented much more than personal success. I wanted to be the first transportation professional, the first person of color to serve as the chief engineer with the hope of opening doors for many like you who are sitting in the audience.”
