Infrastructure

Jay Walder, chairman and chief executive officer of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, last week urged the municipal finance community to continue to support capital funding for mass-transit projects despite the economic downturn.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has appointed E. Lynn Hampton interim president and chief executive officer effective May 9.

CHICAGO — A merger between United Airlines and US Airways would hit the smaller hub airports where the two operate hardest as the carriers would likely move to consolidate those bases, Moody’s Investors Service warned in a new report on the potential credit impact of a union between the two.

WASHINGTON — Infrastructure in the U.S., especially for water systems and surface transportation, is desperately in need of investment, the Urban Land Institute and Ernst & Young declared this week. Their report criticized governments from the local to federal levels for their sluggish movement toward transportation and infrastructure financing reform.

Governors Chris Gregoire of Washington and Ted Kulongoski of Oregon this week appointed an eight-member panel of experts to review plans to build a new bridge across the Columbia River.

Innovative financing tools for transportation projects — including an array of different types of bonds — should be expanded and grouped into a centralized department at the federal level, state and local officials told House panel members yesterday.

New Jersey Transit yesterday approved a system-wide fare increase of 22% to generate $126.6 million of new revenue and help close the agency’s estimated $300 million fiscal 2011 deficit.

WASHINGTON — Amtrak wants to become a major player in creating a national high-speed rail network, as states continue to jockey for funding from the federal government and potentially offer up their own bonds to help cover construction costs.

CHICAGO — While the market’s attention is focused on Chicago’s sale of more than $1 billion of new-money and refunding debt for O’Hare International Airport this week, the city is also preparing to refund and reoffer pieces of its Midway Airport debt it had hoped to retire with its now-stalled plan to privatize the facility.

A U.S. district court judge last week dismissed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority that contested its right to collect toll revenues that secure more than $900 million of MWAA's outstanding bonds. The bond proceeds are helping to finance the system's expansion of rail service to Washington Dulles International Airport.