Infrastructure

Former U.S. Representative James Oberstar died at age 79 Saturday, silencing one of Washington's most outspoken advocates of increased transportation and infrastructure investment.

The gas tax would need to be raised to 31 cents from the current 18.3 cents per gallon in 2015 and increased thereafter in order for the Highway Trust Fund to keep up with projected transportation funding needs, without new revenue sources, Fitch Ratings said in a report released Monday.

State transportation departments face a $47 billion cut in federal funding in fiscal 2015 if Congress fails to shore up the Highway Trust Fund.

Approval of a $1.9 billion federal transportation loan for the $5.7 billion Silver Line rail extension to Washington's Dulles Airport is the largest ever awarded.

Tolling and transit advocates praise the $302 billion transportation legislation now in Congress, but others doubt lawmakers will act before the November elections.

President Obama sent to Congress a $302 billion, four-year surface transportation funding bill that ends the prohibition on tolling existing interstate highways.

Re-introducing the Build America Bonds program would once again drive much-needed infrastructure spending and broaden the buyer base to non-traditional taxable investors, while at the same time providing a complementary alternative to the currently challenged landscape of the traditional tax-exempt market.

Wells Fargo links limited supply of transportation infrastructure bonds to uncertainty over federal funding.

Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority accepted the first segment of the $5.7 billion Silver Line train extension to Dulles Airport from the contractor.

Lack of congressional action to replenish the dwindling Highway Trust Fund means aging bridges will continue to deteriorate.

Airports may someday face competition from high-speed rail, but that's not a sure thing yet, Kroll Bond Rating Agency said in a new report on rating methodology for general airport revenue bonds.

Researchers at three universities are looking into the development and future vision for high-speed rail in the United States.

The Highway Trust Fund will not be able to meet obligations for highway and transit projects in fiscal 2015 under President Obama's proposed budget, the Congressional Budget Office is warning.

Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority will complete funding of a rail line to Dulles International Airport with May's negotiated sale of $450 million of toll revenue bonds.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is barnstorming across eight states to warn that road projects may be halted if Congress does not replenish the Highway Trust Fund.

A new paper makes recommendations for increasing the number of bond financings for clean energy projects.

A bipartisan group in Congress wants to fund transportation projects with an infrastructure bond bank supported by revenue from corporate tax code reforms.

Leaders on the Senate Environment and Public Works committee said they reached an agreement on principles for a surface transportation reauthorization bill and suggested funding could be raised through tax reform.

In Memphis, Tenn., and Atlanta, major airport-centered economic development plans anticipate using innovative and traditional financing.

Federal lawmakers are examining the Canadian public-private partnership model for lessons to apply in the U.S., where a major infrastructure bank bill awaits action in both chambers of Congress.