Infrastructure

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Florida Department of Transportation on Friday suddenly pulled the plug on the long-awaited $1.2 billion Port of Miami tunnel project and said it would not close on the state's largest pubic-private partnership with the consortium known as Miami Access Tunnel.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority is looking for swap counterparties that it hopes will be able to take over derivative contracts with a subsidiary of bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the agency said yesterday.

Lawmakers last week conducted a second public hearing on Massachusetts’ transportation financing woes and Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposal to consolidate existing authorities.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey last Monday won another round in an ongoing fight to stop the Bush administration from auctioning flight slots at its airports when the U.S. Court of Appeals granted it a stay.

WASHINGTON - To fill the void left by bond insurers, highly rated states and authorities should consider providing a temporary guarantee or credit enhancement to lower-rated issuers that cannot access the municipal market at reasonable rates for transportation projects, market participants said at a conference here last week.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey proposed a record $3.3 billion of capital spending in 2009 as part of a $6.71 billion preliminary budget released yesterday. Slightly more than half of the capital program would be financed through bonds and notes.

WASHINGTON - State and local governments must be given federal assistance through tax code revisions, stimulus legislation, and financial aid to help with operational costs, governors from New Jersey, Vermont, and Wisconsin told the House Appropriations Committee at a hearing here yesterday.

Senators late yesterday were trying to determine if they had enough votes to approve automaker bailout legislation containing provisions that could prevent 31 transit agencies from having to make $2 billion to $4 billion in termination payments on leaseback deals that technically defaulted after their guarantors' ratings were downgraded.

CHICAGO - Indiana will collect nearly $1 billion less revenue than originally expected during its upcoming 2009-2011 biennium, fiscal analysts warned yesterday.

WASHINGTON - State revolving funds that rely on investment returns to subsidize loans should be worried about unexpected losses in liquidity and declining future returns, Moody's Investors Service analysts said in a report yesterday.