Infrastructure

Struggling to repay $113 million in debt that financed its privately-owned and operated airport in Missouri's Ozark Mountains, Branson Airport LLC has won a reprieve against enforcement actions from bondholders in the form of an extended forbearance agreement.

Moody's Investors Service affirmed the A1 rating for the Metropolitan Utilities District of Omaha, removing it from review for possible downgrade, and assigned a negative outlook.

Detroit officials this week announced the city won a $30 million federal grant to help buy and upgrade city buses among other capital upgrades.

Moody's Investors Service said this week Chrysler's improved performance and production at its Belvidere plant in the Rockford, Ill., metropolitan region is a credit positive for the area.

Sussex County board member Eric Fly voiced his concern over the process and the plan itself, "The whole process is backwards. VDOT isn't going to give the public any time to voice their opinion prior to submitting their final application to the Federal Highway Administration. They clearly know that the public is against the idea and are therefore trying to jam it through before any public comment.

The U.S. Department of Transportation today announced $787 million in grants to 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico for 255 projects that will upgrade or replace mass transit infrastructure.

Five consortiums have said they are interested in bidding on Georgia's nearly $1 billion Northwest Corridor project, the Atlanta-region congestion reliever that once was the state's first public-private partnership.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport plans to issue $381 million of new money for its $2 billion terminal remodeling program as the airport's largest tenant, American Airlines, considers possible mergers under bankruptcy protection.

Its finance manager is examining how the alleged London interbank offering rate scandal has affected the transit authority's investments.

Moody's knocked $6.5 billion of Chicago O'Hare international Airport general airport revenue bonds down one notch due to the airport's high leverage, narrow financial margins, and economic and construction risks tied to its ongoing $8 billion expansion.