Transportation industry

Amid the biggest building binge in its history, the North Texas Tollway Authority ranked as the top debt issuer in the Southwest in 2011, with more than $2.1 billion sold, according to Thomson Reuters.

Children’s Memorial Hospital’s plans to build a heliport on the roof of its partially bond-financed hospital under construction in downtown Chicago is being challenged by a community group.

The North Texas Tollway Authority board has agreed to pay legal fees for board member David Denison, who is involved in an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The San Diego Association of Governments approved the $345 million purchase of a bankrupt toll road from a private operator at its Dec. 16 board meeting.

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority to A3 from A2.

Transportation officials and lobbyists will be watching Capitol Hill early next year, hoping lawmakers pass long-term reauthorization legislation funding aviation and surface programs that would bring much-needed stability to the sectors.

A Cook County Circuit Court judge last week dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority’s steep increase in tolls that will take effect Jan. 1 to fund a $12 billion capital program.

The Southern California Logistics Airport Authority has defaulted on more bonds after discovering it can't use reserves to make principal payments for some of its debt.

The Washington Department of Transportation is set to begin tolling on the State Route 520 floating bridge on Dec. 29.

Citing a worsening revenue outlook, the board of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted against restoring $20 million in bus and subway service cuts for fiscal 2012.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation closes on a $145.5 million deal believed to be the first of its kind to use stand-alone, grant anticipation revenue vehicle bonds as interim financing.

Former Maine Turnpike Authority executive director Paul Violette has settled a civil lawsuit over allegations that he used agency funds for personal benefit, agreeing along with two surety bonding providers to pay back damages totaling $430,000.

A task force last week proposed a local income tax rate increase in the Indianapolis region to finance a $1.3 billion rail and bus system over the next 10 years.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board has adopted a $609 million budget for 2012 that anticipates $200 million in toll-backed borrowing as the agency embarks on its $12 billion, 15-year capital program to maintain and expand the 286-mile system.

The Arkansas Department of Highways and Transportation will focus initially on improving traffic flow along Interstate 30 if voters approve $1.3 billion of general obligation bonds for roadwork next year.

Rhode Island wants to put tolls on a stretch of Interstate 95 near the Connecticut border in a story that resonates beyond the nation's smallest state and its neighbors.

Two lawmakers representing Northeastern states are sponsoring legislation to give the federal government more control over bridge and tunnel tolls, a proposition that has won the backing of commercial truckers and motorist advocacy groups but could also put pressure on some bond issuers.

Having already assigned a negative outlook to Garvees, Fitch Ratings said downgrades could occur for such bonds without a backup pledge of revenues if lawmakers don't approve a longer-term reauthorization of highway and other surface transportation programs by March 31.

Republicans complained about the skyrocketing cost and lack of administrative transparency surrounding the construction of the California high-speed rail project, while Democrats and regulators steadfastly defended the partially bond-financed project as an antidote to gridlock and a way to create jobs.

The Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority's new board learned Wednesday night that its defaulted bonds, sold to build the Garcon Point Bridge in north Florida, may be repaid without losses to investors.