(Mark your calendars: RealShare New York, Oct. 12, 2011 in New York City and RealShare New Jersey, Sept. 12, 2011 in New Brunswick, NJ)

NEW YORK CITY-The volatile day on Wall Street was no match for the upbeat optimism about the future of the Tri-State region at the Professional Women in Construction’s “Meet the Architects and Engineers” event at Club 101 on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan late Thursday. The evening’s honored guests, who were presented with awards from PWC-NY’s president Lenore Janis, spoke about how to provide clients value while investing in capital projects throughout New York and New Jersey.

“We are all in this together,” said Wally Caban, assistant chief engineer of construction at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who explained that the port’s $3.2 billion capital budget has been “drained from the needs at the World Trade Center,” and with zero percent growth, little funds are left over for repairs needed at the George Washington Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel Helix, Bayonne Bridge and Port Authority Bus Terminal. “You share the problems of the industry with the marketplace and so do we,” he said, announcing that a revised fare and toll increase plan was OK-ed by the Port Authority Board to help keep these projects afloat.