Infrastructure

Standard & Poor’s last week revised the outlook to positive from stable on the New Jersey Turnpike Authority due to additional revenue from a recent toll increase that began Dec. 1.

CHICAGO - The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority's inspector general will review the planning process undertaken by the agency to craft its new $1.8 billion capital program, a move its board hopes will quell concerns that the plan was rushed through to give Gov. Rod Blagojevich leverage in raising campaign funds.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s associate administrator for Commercial Space Transportation has granted New Mexico’s official state spaceport the license it needs for vertical and horizontal launches.

WASHINGTON - A top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee is urging Congress to draft the stimulus package to include a "general revenue sharing" program for state and local governments that would provide aid to municipalities facing budget shortfalls as a result of the economic crisis.

CHICAGO - Michigan lawmakers wrapped up their 2008 session Friday with the approval of a long sought-after measure to advance a bond-funded plan to expand Detroit's Cobo Center as well as a plan to build a light-rail line that could play a key role in the development of a regional southeastern Michigan transportation system.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Transportation has misled the public and lawmakers by claiming that the highway trust fund has been depleted by declining gas tax revenues, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association charged in a memo to congressional staff and reporters Friday.

New York State should consider privatizing assets and using design-build strategies to fill funding gaps for capital projects, a state commission said in a preliminary report yesterday. The report identifies transportation and education projects as candidates for public-private partnerships.

Transportation stakeholders in Congress, lobbyists, and industry officials yesterday lauded Republican Rep. Ray LaHood of Illinois, President-elect Barack Obama's choice to head the Department of Transportation, because of his management abilities and bipartisan credentials, despite his thin resume on transportation.

DALLAS - The Texas Transportation Commission approved a $1 billion issue yesterday after learning that the state may need as much as $313 billion to build and maintain highways through 2030.

CHICAGO - The Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois yesterday approved a $2.6 billion budget for next year that relies on federal aid to fund capital projects amid the ongoing drought in new state borrowing.