Transportation industry

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the long-term underlying rating on the Sacramento Transportation Authority’s variable-rate revenue bonds from to Aa3 from Aa2.

President Obama Wednesday, eager to prevent another political showdown over expiring legislation, called on Congress to quickly renew the surface transportation law that expires at the end of September.

Georgia Department of Transportation chief engineer Gerald Ross will become the director of the state’s public-private partnership program. A 29-year veteran of GDOT, he replaces Sandra Burgess, who is retiring this week.

The termination of NASA’s space shuttle program, primarily located at the Kennedy Space Center in central Florida, is a credit negative for Brevard County and surrounding areas, Moody’s Investors Service said in Monday’s Weekly Credit Outlook.

DALLAS - With its federal funding restored amid efforts to regain public trust, the Harris County Metropolitan Transit Authority in Houston is preparing a $511 million deal to get its belated light-rail expansion back on track.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe is expected this week to set a Nov. 8 election on extending the state’s existing $575 million Garvee road bond program to pay for maintenance on 300 miles of interstate highway.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo nominated former state transportation commissioner Thomas Madison as executive director of the New York State Thruway Authority, subject to Senate confirmation.

CHICAGO — The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board Thursday approved a $12 billion, 15-year capital program that relies on a steep increase in passenger tolls to repay $4.8 billion in borrowing and raise cash to maintain and expand its existing 286-mile system.

The Port of Oakland was able to achieve $29.2 million in present-value debt service savings by selling $345.7 million of refunding revenue bonds — the highest known level of savings achieved by the port on a refunding, officials said.

The California state auditor will investigate the controversial proposal by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to spend $179 million of bridge toll dollars to move its office from Oakland to San Francisco.

The Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, which is proposing a controversial Alaska public-private partnership toll bridge project, may need more funding from the state if toll revenues fall short, according to local press reports.

DALLAS — New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has called on the board overseeing Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport for a "robust analysis" on whether to build a new terminal or expand the existing facilities.

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn this week signed legislation that paves the way for the state's future use of public-private partnerships to finance transportation projects, a change supporters hope will jump-start proposed projects that lack public funding.

WASHINGTON — State transportation officials are warning of dire consequences for both improvement projects and the bond issues they may use to finance them if Congress allows federal aid for state and local highway and transit projects to end Sept. 30.

CHICAGO — Chicago and the Illinois Regional Transportation Authority filed lawsuits Tuesday against the cities of Kankakee and Channahon for their roles in tax-sharing agreements with retail companies that allow them to avoid collecting the Chicago area's higher sales tax rates.

DALLAS — An environmental lawsuit by the Sierra Club could impede bond issuance for one section of a 170-mile toll loop around the Houston area known as the Grand Parkway.

Another downgrade hit Rhode Island as Moody's Investors Service lowered its rating to A2 from A1 on the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp.'s motor fuel-tax revenue bonds, affecting $77 million of outstanding debt.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco International Airport will sell $450 million of refunding bonds this week in a quick follow-up to a deal earlier this summer in order to take advantage of a favorable market.

CHICAGO — A committee of Indiana legislators will hold the first in a series of hearings today to review the state's infrastructure needs — estimated at $5.4 billion with an $800 million annual shortfall going forward — as proceeds from the long-term lease of the Indiana Toll Road are set to run out by 2015.

The Bond Oversight Commission will hear a request Thursday from the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority for $178 million of 20-year revenue bonds. The authority will use the proceeds to add lanes to road sections in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.