Transportation industry

Chicago City Council member Brendan Reilly said this week he has consulted with public finance experts in an exploration of how the city could finance a buy back of the parking meter system from private operators.

With some saying that the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority is teetering, muni market participants are wondering about its financial health.

The Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority may default as soon as next week, El Nuevo Dia newspaper reports a Puerto Rico government official as saying.

Hawaii State legislators killed a bill that would have reduced the state's take of a surcharge designated to pay the costs of a $5.2 billion elevated rail now under construction in Honolulu, according to the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

The Los Angeles City Council approved a $4.76 billion Los Angeles International Airport plan to move the northernmost runway closer to homes in Westchester and Playa del Rey.

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.

New York's MTA named veteran transit manager Joseph Leader senior vice president for its department of subways, succeeding the promoted Carmen Bianco.

Louisiana will avoid $110 million in swap termination penalties with a $303.1 million refunding on May 16 approved by the State Bond Commission.

A judge ruled last week that several Kansas City, Mo. business owners behind a lawsuit challenging the legality of the funding mechanism for the city's proposed $102 million, two-mile downtown streetcar line don’t have to file a bond to proceed with their appeal.

With new competition fast approaching, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is returning to the debt market to price $367 million of revenue bonds for its terminal renewal and improvement program.

The Connecticut Bond Commission earmarked $11.7 million for two Department of Transportation projects at the Stamford train station and in four other communities.

The Columbia River Crossing project, a $3.4 billion replacement of the Interstate 5 bridge connecting Portland, Ore. and Vancouver, Wash., appears stalled unless Washington state lawmakers approve $450 million soon.

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.

New York University's Mitchell Moss said tolling the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens borough would generate a reliable revenue stream for the debt-strapped MTA.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation is conducting new environmental studies for the $802 million Monroe Connector/Bypass toll road for which much of the debt has already been sold.

Richland County, S.C., started paying an extra penny sales tax Wednesday, which will provide $1 billion for transportation projects over the next 22 years.

Fitch Ratings on Tuesday became the third agency to withdraw its rating on $131.2 million of defaulted toll-bridge bonds issued by north Florida's Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority.

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.

The executive committee of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, which oversees the region's transit plans, voted last week to switch to a new funding formula that will mean the loss of significant funding for Detroit.