Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton, who led the bi-state agency for almost nine years after the Bridgegate scandal, announced he will retire from the agency in January 2026.

Cotton, who was appointed in August 2017 in a shakeup of the authority’s leadership , leaves the authority that controls the region’s airports, seaports, PATH rail system, and bridges and tunnels with major infrastructure projects either built, underway or in the planning stages.

“Since 2017, I have devoted all my energy to this profoundly important work. It has been enormously rewarding and exhausting. But nothing is forever,“ Cotton said in a statement.

“With the immense progress that we have made and the completion last week of our proposed new 10-year capital plan — which will fund the agency’s ambi

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