Infrastructure

The executive director of AASHTO, John Horsley, is going out with a bang, spending the final weeks before his planned retirement pushing Congress to make authorize $50 billion of tax-credit bonds and to change fuel tax policy.

The House late Tuesday approved more than $50 billion of aid for victims of Superstorm Sandy, which ravaged parts of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and other states.

Bond-related bills pending in the Virginia House of Delegates would limit toll increases on the Dulles Toll Road and authorize the commonwealth, through authorities, to purchase and control the privately-owned Dulles Greenway.

Detroit is expected this week to win a $25 million federal grant for a long-planned light-rail project along one of the city's main corridors.

The International Bridge Tunnel and Turnpike Association has announced a campaign to elevate the role of tolling in transportation funding, backed by a recent Reason Foundation study that advocates for expanded use of toll financing.

Pennsylvania has released guidelines for public-private partnerships under the state's new P3 authorization law, and announced it would accept unsolicited proposals during May and October.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce unveiled its 2013 policy agenda Thursday, calling for an increase in the federal gas tax at a time when some state leaders and industry experts are no longer pursuing that goal.

The Virginia General Assembly will decide whether to grant itself more oversight over privatizing the state's port facilities, as well as several other bond-related questions.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has introduced his transportation plan, a major overhaul of the commonwealth's tax system that would see the state gas tax disappear in favor of higher sales taxes and other fees.

Kentucky and Indiana settle the 2009 federal lawsuit by two nonprofit groups that could have derailed the $2.6 billion Ohio River Bridges Project. A second federal complaint is still pending.

Long-term pressures continue to plague bonds backed by the federal highway trust fund, but investors can offset their risk by investing in debt also secured by other revenue, according to a Wells Fargo analysis released Monday.

Growing traffic between the United States and its international neighbors is leading to a need for more border road crossings, but a new HNTB white paper stresses the need for careful and conservative revenue studies for near-border toll points.

The South Carolina Alliance to Fix Our Roads has begun to lobby for an increase in the state's motor fuel tax to fund more than $50 billion in needed transportation improvements.

The Indiana Finance Authority finalized its agreement and reached commercial close on a deal with WVB East End Partners to design and build the state's part of the massive bi-state Ohio River Bridges Project.

The Public-Private Partnership sector will experience broad but slow growth in the coming year, experts predict.

The Illinois State Toll Authority board has approved a $1.5 billion budget for the coming year along with $1 billion in toll-backed bonds in the agency's first borrowing to support its 15-year $12 billion capital program.

The transportation sector will spend next year looking for opportunities to achieve limited legislative goals, while hoping to stay out of the way of lawmakers who may have to slash funds in ongoing efforts to deal with the debt crisis.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell announced final agreement has been reached on a $1.4 billion public-private partnership to finance, design, and build a new 55-mile section of U.S. Route 460 in the southeastern part of the commonwealth.

Federal and transit agency officials made their case for federal aid to rebuild in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, telling a Senate panel they will need it to help pay debt service on new muni debt.

Airports, ports, and unregulated power companies are at risk due to the impending fiscal cliff, while toll roads and public power utilities are insulated from the worst danger, according to a Moody's Investors Service report released Wednesday.