Transportation industry

Colorado's Regional Transportation District will have about $896 million in unused debt authorization for its FasTracks transit program after this week's issue of $446.3 million, according to estimates.

An unexpectedly low bid for building a replacement Tappan Zee bridge in New York reduces financial pressure on the New York Thruway Authority, an analyst says.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey sold $595 million of consolidated bonds in two competitive offerings on Wednesday.

Joining the bridge and tunnel crowd, Kroll rated about $900 million worth of bonds that New York's Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority intends to sell.

Speaking in Washington before a Senate panel, Joseph Lhota, chairman of New York's MTA, urged federal help for his hurricane-battered transit system.

An agitated U.S. Secretary of Transportation reiterated the Obama administration's support for high-speed rail investment, and fought vigorously to defend the controversial and partly bond-funded $68 billion bullet train initiative in California.

Voters approved a measure creating an assessment district in downtown Los Angeles to build a streetcar line at a cost of $125 million.

Florida's Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority will make its first venture into the bond market as a standalone credit next week with $454.8 million of new and refunding bonds.

Indiana floated a request for interest for firms looking to partner with the state on a new section of Interstate 69, which is the latest in a series of P3 transportation projects the state has undertaken.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood may be sticking around at least a bit longer, according to the newly minted chairman of next Congress' House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

A sale of $200 million of highway revenue bonds by Kansas Department of Transportation will fund the next year of projects in Kansas's 10-year highway program.

The need for New York's MTA to borrow up to $4.8 billion using short-term recovery notes for Hurricane Sandy costs is a credit negative, according to Moody's.

Transportation experts and lobbyists believe anointed House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster will make financing issue a bigger focus than the man he will replace.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is scheduled to sell $595 million of consolidated bonds in two series on Wednesday. Proceeds will finance capital expenditures for the authority's tunnels, bridges, and PATH train.

The Texas Transportation Commission is pricing its largest general obligation bond issue of the year Tuesday, with $839.3 million of tax-exempt debt selling through negotiation and $100 million of taxable bonds offered competitively.

The toll of Hurricane Sandy on the Eastern Seaboard's transportation infrastructure underscores the need to fund both annual maintenance and "generational" infrastructure projects, said John Porcari of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Alabama prices $340 million of new Garvee bonds Wednesday as part of Gov. Robert Bentley's Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program.

Spending on transportation infrastructure construction is likely to grow a modest 3% next year to a total of $130.3 billion, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association's annual forecast.

The ability to fast-track stalled projects as well as create jobs is making the design-build-finance model attractive to states, panelists said at The Bond Buyer's annual transportation and P3 conference.

In the week's largest deal, the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund will sell $1.2 billion of bonds to finance various transportation projects in the state.