New Jersey Transit has settled a lawsuit brought by its former construction manager on the estimated $2.3-billion Portal North Bridge replacement project, who claimed he was fired in 2023 in retaliation for alleging it had design deficiencies. 

First reported by the political news platform Politico, the settlement with Mohammed Nasim was reached in January but not made public. NJ Transit acknowledged the settlement in May in response to a written question about the case from a member of the New Jersey State Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

An NJ Transit spokesperson confirmed to ENR that Nasim received a settlement of $450,000, including back pay and attorneys’ fees. There was no admission of liability by NJ Transit in the settlement, which includes a confidentiality clause.

An attorney representing Nasim did not respond to a request for comment.

Video by Andy Ryan, courtesy of HNTB

Nasim, whose LinkedIn page claims more than 30 years of major project delivery experience in the U.S. and overseas, was hired by NJ Transit in early 2021 as construction manager for the new 2.5-mile, fixed-span crossing, the largest project in the agency’s history and a key component of the $33.7-billion Gateway Program. According to published reports, Nasim claims to have repeatedly raised cost and safety concerns stemming from potential track settlement, proximity to active rail lines and Hackensack River navigation issues, all of which he said were either ignored or dismissed by his superiors.

Nasim was fired by NJ Transit in October 2023. He told a local news outlet at the time that he was given no reason for the termination, other than his status as an “at will” employee. In its response to the State Senate committee, NJ Transit noted that the Portal Bridge project has an excellent safety record, and is on time and on budget with Amtrak scheduled to take over construction of track, catenary and other systems in the coming months. The project, which is being constructed by a joint venture of Skanska and Traylor Brothers, is scheduled to be completed in fall 2027.

Nasim filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in New Jersey Superior Court in early 2024, naming as defendants NJ Transit and its then-director of capital programs, Richard Schaefer, who ended his six-year stint with the agency earlier this year to rejoin HNTB as a program manager. 

HNTB did not respond to a request for comment about Schaefer’s role, including whether he will have any involvement in the Portal Bridge project, for which the firm is serving as lead structural designer.

Another initial defendant, Amtrak, was dropped from Nasim’s lawsuit soon after it was filed.

Nasim is now listed on LinkedIn as vice president of Projectix Engineering Consultants, a construction project and program management firm.

An emailed request to confirm his status was not returned.