Infrastructure

Puerto Rico has disclosed that the U.S. Treasury is no longer skimming money from federal grant payments backing the commonwealth's Garvee bonds, a day after Moody's Investors Service placed the debt on notice for possible downgrade.

U.S. toll roads are maintaining high investment-grade ratings, despite the slow economic recovery, Fitch Ratings said Thursday, releasing its first annual review of the toll roads it rates.

In a move showing that Garvees, like Build America Bonds, are subject to the risk of federal offsets, the U.S. government has reduced transportation funds backing Puerto Rico's Garvees to make up for the Commonwealth's failure to pay money owed to a federal agency for river projects.

Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., has introduced a bipartisan bill that would create an American Infrastructure Fund to provide loans and loan guarantees to state and local governments to help finance certain infrastructure projects.

Soaring gasoline prices are the result of price increases for crude oil, not federal and state gas taxes, which must be raised to help pay for transportation infrastructure improvements, the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy said in a recently released paper.

President Obama signed a presidential memorandum today that the White House said will modernize the Federal infrastructure permitting process, cutting timelines in half for major infrastructure projects.

Public utilities must awaken ratepayers to the reality that, while energy sources are expanding, water is growing increasingly precious, experts told the Bond Buyer symposium on public utility finance.

Rising concern about the availability of future water supplies and the need for new infrastructure will take center stage at The Bond Buyer's Financing Municipal Utilities Conference.

The Senate voted 83-14 Wednesday to pass the Water Resources Development Act of 2013, which authorizes federal water program spending and includes a a pilot program that would offer low-interest loans and loan guarantees for water infrastructure projects.

Creating a municipal road and bridge revolving fund is crucial to improving Rhode Island's roads and bridges, Treasurer Gina Raimondo told a House panel in Providence.

Managed toll lanes carry greater credit risks than traditional toll roads because they are challenging to implement and subject to extreme traffic volatility, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service.

A bipartisan team of House transportation leaders have introduced legislation to spend $13.8 billion over five years on water infrastructure through the State Revolving Fund.

A new U.S. Conference of Mayors report shows that local governments have spent big on water and wastewater infrastructure, but worries that rising costs of water service and increased long-term debt might make increased investment unsustainable for some communities.

Wednesday marked the deadline for companies interested in developing a pair of major rail projects under Maryland's new public-private partnership law, and the private sector is jumping at the chance.

The U.S. faces several significant challenges in the water and wastewater sectors including aging infrastructure, a water supply-demand imbalance and an unsustainable funding gap, a new Ernst and Young report found.

A Virginia Circuit Court judge has ruled that the financing mechanism of the Elizabeth River Crossings project in the southeastern part of the state is unconstitutional, calling into question the future of the multi-billion dollar public-private partnership and other Virginia P3s.

The impact of advances in information technology and the proliferation of open networks are mostly positive for financial markets, said speakers at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., has introduced legislation to authorize $500 million of federal grant money for nationally or regionally important surface transportation projects.

President Obama on Monday tapped Charlotte, N.C. Mayor Anthony Foxx to replace Ray LaHood as Secretary of Transportation.