Infrastructure

In contrast to the recent months of uncertainty swirling around the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's financial health, the New York agency released its preliminary 2010 budget and financial plan with little fanfare at its board meeting yesterday.

WASHINGTON - Maryland will begin selling bonds to retail investors on a negotiated basis tomorrow for three days and will then sell bonds to institutional investors on a competitive basis on Wednesday in a $485 million hybrid transaction.

WASHINGTON - House lawmakers voted 363 to 68 late yesterday to approve a bill that would provide $7 billion to the highway trust fund and keep money flowing to states through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

CHICAGO - Facing tough national competition, eight Midwestern governors joined together this week to present a united front in their push to land a share of $8 billion in federal funds available for high-speed rail projects from the economic stimulus program.

WASHINGTON - House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., yesterday introduced a bill that would provide $5 billion to the highway trust fund so that it stays solvent through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Abuse of authority and an apparently unauthorized accounting practice resulted in a financial deficit at the Georgia Department of Transportation that violated the state's constitution, according to investigations released late Monday by the state's auditor and inspector general.

The New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority yesterday approved $1.6 billion of borrowing for capital projects, including a $150 million variable-rate transaction that will help address existing swap agreements.

The Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority last week approved the sale of $152 million of taxable Build America Bonds for state road and bridge projects.

WASHINGTON — Key lawmakers yesterday urged the revenue panel of the House Ways and Means Committee to immediately approve a short-term legislative fix for the expected shortfall in the highway trust fund, and in the long run to move toward a vehicle mileage tax to pay for transportation.

CHICAGO — The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission is gearing up to enter the market in mid-September with a $600 million Garvee sale to fund projects under the state’s Safe and Sound Bridge program that includes the upgrading or reconstruction of 802 bridges statewide.