Infrastructure

Now that New Jersey's fiscal 2009 budget is signed, sealed, and delivered, attention in the Garden State turns once again to financing transportation infrastructure as two senators this week proposed allowing a private company to manage certain lanes on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Pennsylvania will issue roughly $1.2 billion of general obligation and state appropriation debt in fiscal 2009 after Gov. Edward Rendell signed off on nearly $3 billion of borrowing to be issued over the next three to five years.

DALLAS - After winning a positive response from the market with a $125 million deal last month, the North Texas Tollway Authority is ready to continue its record year in debt issuance by pricing $1 billion of second-tier revenue bonds this week.

High gas prices are keeping motorists off Oklahoma’s highways, causing a dip in gasoline tax revenues at a time when construction costs are increasing rapidly.

Congress last week passed stopgap legislation that would extend through Sept. 30 funding for the Federal Aviation Administration that includes grants to airports for improvement projects. The bill was approved after lawmakers removed provisions that would have added $8 billion to the Highway Trust Fund.

DALLAS - The Oklahoma Department of Transportation will complete the first phase of a $500 million debt program with a $100 million negotiated sale in early fall.

CHICAGO - Merrill Lynch & Co. has scooped up nearly 30 public finance bankers from the ranks of the now-shuttered municipal group at UBS Securities LLC - taking advantage of a "once-in-a-decade opportunity" as its Wall Street neighbors shed staff to cope with subprime market-related losses, the firm's municipal chairman said.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Florida Department of Transportation is starting a new search for a concessionaire to become the first to lease an existing toll road in the state.

WASHINGTON - Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine's transportation plan died in the legislature yesterday after the House Rule Committee refused to let it come before the full House.

SAN FRANCISCO - Facing rising interest costs triggered by downgrades to Ambac Assurance Corp., the Orange County Transportation Authority is moving forward with plans to refinance toll revenue bonds it issued in 2003 to acquire toll lanes on the State Route 91 freeway from private owners.