Transportation industry

CHICAGO — Missouri transportation officials are seeking legislative authority to turn Interstate 70 into a toll road to fund a $2 billion to $4 billion rebuilding and expansion of the aging highway, possibly through a pubic-private partnership.

While members of Congress have been loathe to take the politically unpopular step of raising the federal gas tax, which provides revenue for bond-financed roadwork and other highway projects, a number of states have increased their gas taxes during the past few years.

Two Kentucky senators are co-sponsoring a bill that would ban tolls on existing Interstates, according to the Courier-Journal.

The Georgia Legislature is considering a $300 million infusion of additional gas tax funds to shore up funding to build the first phase of the West by Northwest traffic-congestion relief project around Atlanta.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich defended his push to privatize the Ohio Turnpike and called for the proposal's critics to "chill out" during his annual state of the state address Tuesday afternoon.

Local Democratic officials from northeast Ohio who are opposed to Gov. John Kasich’s proposal to lease the Ohio Turnpike said last week they would launch their own study of the privatization plan.

The Senate Finance Committee Tuesday approved by a vote of 17-6, a transportation revenue measure that would increase the limit for bank-qualified bonds and exempt private-activity bonds from the alternative minimum tax through this year as well as authorize state infrastructure banks to issue tax-credit bonds for transportation.

The Senate gave final approval to a four-year reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration, failing to increase available funds for bond-financed airport construction projects but bringing about much-needed stability following five years of short-term extensions and partisan gridlock.

With its major tenant, American Airlines, in bankruptcy, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is taking advantage of low interest rates and a favorable tax ruling in a $450 million refunding.

CHICAGO — Cleveland Hopkins International Airport will enter the market Wednesday with $241 million of airport system refunding bonds.

The Arkansas Trucking Association plans to seek voter approval next year for an increase in the state tax on diesel fuel to finance highway construction projects.

Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee quashed a Democrat-backed amendment seeking to revive many muni bond measures from the 2009 stimulus package as they voted Friday to approve a bill that would authorize the transfer of domestic energy development revenues into the Highway Trust Fund.

DALLAS — Alliance Texas, one of the most successful multi-modal inland ports in the nation, will suffer a blow to employment when bankrupt AMR Corp. closes its American Airlines maintenance base in Fort Worth.

Michigan lawmakers have unveiled a series of bills that would revamp the state's transportation infrastructure formula, raise $1 billion of new money, and create a new bond-issuing regional transit authority for the Detroit region.

The House Transportation Committee is expected to approve the $260 billion five-year highway and transit funding bill sponsored by its chairman, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., despite sharp partisan bickering and an avalanche of amendments proposed by Democrats, none of which are expected to move forward.

In anticipation of a $5.3 billion rail project coming in under budget, Honolulu transit authority officials are contemplating adding additional features to the system like a fare gate system, according to published reports.

Adding toll lanes to the proposals for upgrading portions of U.S. 90 to Interstate standards in the Lafayette area could provide up to half of the financing, according to a new traffic study.

Kentucky has begun the search for contractors interested in designing and building its portion of the Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project.

In the wake of a Congressional Budget Office projection that the primary funding source for America's roads may become insolvent next year, House Republicans rolled out a proposal for a five-year surface transportation funding bill and a bipartisan group of lawmakers made a push to solve the crisis with tax-credit bonds.

DALLAS — Two years after sharply retrenching in a harsh economy, Dallas Area Rapid Transit is enjoying a lift in its credit score from Fitch Ratings along with rising sales tax revenue and lower construction costs.