Infrastructure

WASHINGTON - States are weighing whether to modify their long-term transportation finance plans because of questions about the future sustainability of the beleaguered federal highway trust fund, after some already were forced to shelve $1 billion of grant anticipation bond deals due to unfavorable market conditions.

DALLAS - With tax revenue falling dramatically, the Arizona State Transportation Board will examine its bonding capacity today with a view toward scaling back projects already on the drawing board.

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine yesterday announced his plan to increase transportation infrastructure projects and school construction over the next six to eight months to support job growth and help bolster the state's softening economy.

DALLAS - The Louisiana State Bond Commission yesterday decided to delay until next year a scheduled forward-purchase sale of $485 million of gasoline and fuel tax revenue bonds to avoid a swap-termination fee of up to $25 million.

DALLAS - Using state loan guarantees as a new form of debt insurance, the North Texas Tollway Authority yesterday agreed to build another $1.3 billion turnpike, despite misgivings by some board members about how the financing might affect future projects.

Nine members have been appointed to the state’s Southeast Regional Airport Authority, which will determine if Louisiana should take over New Orleans’s Louis Armstrong International Airport.

CHICAGO - Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Illinois State Toll Highway Authority officials yesterday unveiled a $1.8 billion, bond-financed plan to build new interstate-to-interstate interchanges and add bus and ride-sharing commuter lanes to the busiest stretches of the 286-mile toll system.

The Chicago Transit Authority last week proposed raising light-rail train and bus fares by 25 cents and monthly passes to $90 from $75 to help cover a looming deficit due to poor tax collections amid rising expenses for employees and fuel.

DALLAS - With the credit market still awaiting a thaw, the North Texas Tollway Authority approved a plan to complete the takeout of $3.5 billion of bond anticipation notes by the Nov. 19 deadline.

A committee of the Milwaukee County Board last week rejected county Executive Scott Walker’s plan to include $500,000 in the $1.4 billion 2009 budget to hire consultants to help craft a proposal to privatize Mitchell International Airport.