Infrastructure

The capital needs of airports across the country are expected to grow significantly during the next five years, the Federal Aviation Administration warned in a report issued yesterday.

Orange County supervisors will vote Tuesday to send out requests for proposals to underwriters for upcoming bond issues for John Wayne Airport.

Florida’s controversial first leasing of an existing toll road is bogged down due to the volume of questions and comments received from the six consortiums asked to submit bids, the Florida Department of Transportation said in a notice on Monday.

While a $12.8 billion long-term lease bid for the Pennsylvania Turnpike expired this week, Gov. Edward Rendell plans to revisit the issue in the next two-year legislative session.

President Bush has signed into law a short-term appropriations bill to keep the federal government in operation through March 6, and a six-month stopgap measure that will fund the Federal Aviation Administration and its airport construction grant program through the end of that month. Both laws include bond-related provisions totaling more than $8 billion.

CHICAGO - After postponing a planned bond issue this week amid ongoing market turmoil, the Wayne County Airport Authority - operator of Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport - hopes to enter a more stable market within the next few weeks with its third refunding issue in the last five months.

New York will study the potential privatization of state assets through long-term leases, Gov. David Paterson announced yesterday. Public-private partnerships could allow the state to leverage its assets to make investments in long-term infrastructure projects, the governor's office said.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority’s executive director, Brian McPartlin, announced last week he would step down later this month to take a private-sector job.

WASHINGTON - Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority officials postponed the sale of $175 million airport system revenue bonds that was scheduled to come to market today in a negotiated deal after market conditions remained uncertain yesterday.

CHICAGO - Chicago would receive $2.52 billion under a pioneering lease agreement that, if approved by city and federal authorities, would hand over operations of Midway Airport to a private consortium - Midway Investment and Development Co. LLC - for 99 years, Mayor Richard Daley announced yesterday.