Kyle Glazier

Revenue forecasts are an inexact science, but they are a critical part of the rapidly-expanding network of toll roads. When market participants over-rely on them, the result can be a financial meltdown.

With the economy picking up at a slower-than-expected pace, the Federal Open Market Committee mulled changes to forward guidance and the possibility of a new large-scale asset purchase program, according to the minutes of its July 31 meeting, released Wednesday.

Existing home sales rose 2.3% in July to a seasonally adjusted 4.47 million-unit rate, after an unrevised 4.37 million rate in June, the National Association of Realtors announced Wednesday.

Four transportation projects will be expedited as part of the president's "We Can't Wait" program, the Obama Administration announced this week, including the $3.5 billion Columbia River Crossing linking Vancouver, Wash. and Portland, Ore.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has opened a public comment period giving Northern Virginia residents the chance to weigh in on the authority's hotly-debated Dulles Toll Road rate increase schedule.

Creditworthiness requirements and a new debt-subordination feature are likely to shield both taxpayers and private activity bond investors under the expanded Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program, according to a new white paper out from infrastructure firm HNTB.

WASHINGTON - Housing starts fell 1.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 746,000 in July from a revised estimate of 754,000 in June, originally reported as 760,000, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Several Maryland state legislators are pushing for a constitutional amendment allowing the state to put transportation packages and their related bonds on statewide ballots.

Industrial production rose 0.6% in July, while capacity use increased to 79.3%, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.

Business inventories rose 0.1% to $1,580.3 billion in June, while sales fell 1.1% to $1,229.7 billion, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

Retail sales rose 0.8% to $403.9 billion in July after declining a revised 0.7% in June, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

Federal and state officials are seeking to overhaul the leadership of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority amid pending legislation that would restructure the board of the bond-issuing authority.

The federal government ran a $69.6 billion budget deficit in July after posting an unrevised $59.7 billion deficit the previous month, the Treasury Department reported Friday.

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., announced this week that he has introduced legislation that would hand control of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to Virginia.

WASHINGTON - Sales of merchant wholesalers fell 1.4% to $402.9 billion in June after dropping a revised 1.1% in May, originally reported as a 0.8% decline, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. international trade deficit was $42.9 billion in June, a 10.7% drop from the revised $48.0 billion deficit for May, originally reported as $48.7 billion, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

These reduced forecasts are likely to impair the ability of Pocahontas 895 to service the bank and Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loans used to fund the road's development.

WASHINGTON - Consumer credit increased by $6.5 billion, or 3.0%, in June to $2.577.4 trillion, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday.

The transportation infrastructure funding crisis facing governments at all levels is providing a "silver lining" in finance innovation as state governments are turning increasingly to such new tactics as variable-rate fuel taxes and mileage-based user fees, according to a report released this week by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Maryland will issue $653 million in tax-exempt and taxable debt, including over $15 million of direct-pay qualified zone academy bonds Aug. 1. Maryland Treasurer Nancy Kopp expects a good result just weeks after the state's triple-A rating was reaffirmed by all three credit agencies.