Transportation industry

The Maine Turnpike Authority is suing former chief executive Paul Violette, demanding he repay $524,000 it alleges he cost the agency between 2003 and 2011.

The chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee said Thursday that she wants the panel to approve a bipartisan, two-year $109 billion transportation reauthorization bill before Congress leaves for its August recess.

A California appellate court will hear a public employee union’s appeal next month after a court denied a lawsuit over the Presidio Parkway public-private partnership.

WASHINGTON - The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board of directors did a turnaround on Wednesday and voted 11 to 1 to approve the construction of an above-ground station for the metrorail extension to Dulles International Airport.

WASHINGTON - Transportation advocates told members of Congress on Wednesday that a healthy tax-exempt bond market, an expansion of the use of private-activity bonds, and the reinstatement of Build America Bonds would help finance much-needed infrastructure improvements.

DALLAS - The Central Texas Turnpike System, which operates three tollways in the Austin area, is counting on higher subsidies from the state after revenues fell $100 million short of covering debt and operating costs, officials said.

WASHINGTON - An investor holding bonds wrapped with insurance from ACA Financial Guaranty Corp. has filed a lawsuit against the moribund insurer, which says it is no longer obligated to pay insurance claims related to the bonds following the issuer’s Chapter 9 restructuring agreement.

SAN FRANCISCO - A controversial Alaska public-private partnership toll bridge project has moved a step ahead this month despite years of hurdles.

A bill signed last week by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will complete the final $160 million of financing for two segments of Interstate 49 North that will connect Shreveport to the Arkansas line.

The Georgia Department of Transportation again selected HNTB Corp. as the prime consultant for the agency’s Innovative Program Delivery Technical Support Services initiative.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood signed a full-funding agreement Monday for the first phase of the central Florida commuter train called SunRail.

BRADENTON, Fla. - A $1.1 billion transportation project aimed at alleviating congestion around Atlanta has qualified to apply for a low-interest federal loan as part of the financing plan.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is proposing to reduce the cost of the $3.8 billion metrorail extension to Dulles International Airport by having Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Virginia pay for parking garages and a station with federal assistance.

Construction of a western bypass expressway around O'Hare International Airport would create at least 78,000 jobs and strengthen the regional economy, but financing the $3 billion project likely would have to come from tolls, according to an advisory council report announced by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn last week.

A bonding authority that oversees Connecticut's six state-owned airports, including the flagship Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, is up and running.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday announced the completion of a deal allowing Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing to expand its plant and add up to 470 new jobs in exchange for $910 million of bonding capacity to help finance the project.

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's $1.2 billion of Proposition C sales tax revenue bonds one notch to Aa3 because of weaker coverage.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Atlanta is preparing to price $372 million of senior general revenue refunding bonds next week as the first of two deals this year for the world's busiest airline hub, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

House Republicans are trying to divert $1 billion dollars of high-speed rail funding still left in the federal government's coffers from President Obama's stimulus program toward flood-control aid in the Midwest.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet on Monday filed a motion in federal court to intervene in a lawsuit that the agency believes could delay the long-planned Ohio River Bridges Project.