Transportation industry

The capital program is the "front and center challenge" for New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, outgoing chairman Jay Walder said Wednesday.

DALLAS - Dallas Area Rapid Transit plans a 16% increase in debt service as it continues to expand its light-rail system under the fiscal 2012 budget that begins Saturday.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation is suffering from an extreme cash-flow problem, but Gov. Nikki Haley has said she opposes raising the state gasoline tax as a solution.

A new rail alternative for downtown Raleigh has emerged from public comments related to the Southeast High-Speed Rail corridor, according to North Carolina transportation officials.

DALLAS - The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority will reduce its exposure to the vagaries of variable-rate debt and cut its debt service costs with next week's negotiated sale of $521.7 million of revenue refunding bonds.

DALLAS - The Arizona Transportation Board is scheduled to sell $164.5 million of excise tax revenue bonds in a competitive deal Tuesday.

House Transportation Committee chairman Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., has been given the go-ahead by leadership to include $15 billion more for transportation programs in his multi-year bill, if he can find the revenue, sources said.

Six finalists are in the running for a contract to privatize Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, the Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnership Authority and the Puerto Rico Ports Authority have announced.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board of directors approved plans last Thursday to issue $250 million of bonds.

The Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corp. expects to price $1 billion of new- money bonds the week of Oct. 17 to benefit the extension of the No. 7 subway line in New York City’s transit system from its current terminus on Eighth Avenue to the Hudson Yards redevelopment area.

DALLAS - With its debt already at a record level, the North Texas Tollway Authority waived a $3.2 billion project offered by the Texas Department of Transportation.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The trustee for the Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority's $115.9 million of defaulted bonds is providing financial support to entice volunteers to serve on the authority's board, according to the Florida state representative who negotiated the deal.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Georgia Department of Transportation Monday issued a request for proposals for the state's first public-private partnership concession.

CHICAGO - A new independent study on a controversial plan to build a publicly funded bridge in Michigan says proposed bond covenants would protect state taxpayers if toll revenues fall short of expectations, but that interest rate costs could push the price tag past $4 billion.

Members of the Michigan Legislature’s Senate Economic Development Committee said they would extend a series of hearings on whether to advance a plan to build a $3.8 billion, publicly funded bridge spanning the busy trade route between Detroit and Canada.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is expected to hand over management of a high-profile, $528 million light-rail project to the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.

WASHINGTON - Virginia has received conditional approval to put tolls on Interstate 95 under the federal government's Interstate Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Louisville and Southern Indiana Bridges Authority is asking construction industry professionals and others to help it build the Ohio River Bridges Project faster and less expensively.

DALLAS - Denver International Airport plans to take advantage of historically low interest rates with $425.9 million of refunding bonds as it pursues a major expansion.

President Obama has signed the bill extending Federal Aviation Administration and highway funding.