Infrastructure

The Arkansas Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance last week hired two economists to help it determine the true cost of maintaining state roads at recommended levels.

The first projects financed under Tulsa’s Fix The Streets effort will get under way this summer, with proceeds from the first $11 million of the $285 million of general obligation bonds authorized for the five-year program.

President Obama may have chosen a man from outside of the transportation finance universe to be his transportation secretary when he tapped former Rep. Ray LaHood for the job, but his picks for other posts at the department have included several veterans in transportation finance and policy.

SAN FRANCISCO - Moody's Investors Service today cut its outlook for the U.S. ports sector to negative from stable amid steep drops in consumer demand and global trade.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick Friday signed into law a bill to end the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority by the end of the year.

DALLAS - Despite reservations about the state's rising debt service amid falling revenues, Texas transportation officials plan to issue all $4.9 billion of voter-authorized bonds for its projects as soon as possible.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority expects to issue $136.8 million of airport system revenue variable-rate bonds on Wednesday to refinance outstanding revenue notes.

DALLAS — Texas lawmakers will get another chance to authorize $2 billion of transportation bonds and keep five state agencies in business, under Gov. Rick Perry’s call for a special session.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Kentucky General Assembly adjourned its special session Wednesday after plugging a $1 billion hole in the upcoming budget and creating a new bonding authority that will help the state finance some or all of its share of the $4 billion Ohio River Bridges Project.

SAN FRANCISCO — Orange County, Calif.’s John Wayne Airport is a bit of an oddball among airports. And it’s those differences that have helped it garner a rating upgrade that airport officials hope will portend a successful bond issue next week.