Transportation industry

BRADENTON, Fla. — A Florida Senate transportation committee is entertaining a proposal to merge four expressway and bridge authorities with outstanding debt into Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise.

CHICAGO — Ohio senators Wednesday unanimously passed a $7 billion, two-year transportation budget that allows the state to impose tolls to finance projects and enter into public-private partnerships to build and maintain new infrastructure.

DALLAS — Amid a $500 million remodeling project, Dallas Love Field Airport won a two notch upgrade from Standard & Poor’s Wednesday, rising to A with a stable outlook from BBB-plus.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said Friday that there is little hope that Florida can come up with a plan to regain $2.4 billion in federal funds for a high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando.

DALLAS — In what will likely be the largest deal in Texas so far this year, the North Texas Tollway Authority is preparing to issue $1.3 billion for the western extension of its President George Bush Turnpike.

A 12-member group of politicans and business leaders is asking Gov. John Kasich to reconsider his decision to abandon plans for high-speed rail in Ohio.

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit District in California remains on track to debut in the bond market this spring, but the limits of the sales tax it relies on for funding will limit the scope of the rail transit line it plans to build, its board of directors learned here last week at a workshop.

WASHINGTON — Maryland lawmakers are considering a 10-cent-per-gallon increase to the state’s 23.5-cent gas tax, but the government may not be able to use the potential revenue increase to back bonds for transportation projects because there is limited room under its debt cap.

New York State will sell $830 million of new-money and refunding general obligation bonds via competitive bid on Tuesday to help finance transportation and environmental infrastructure needs and generate debt service savings.

Roger Nutt, former head of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and other state transportation entities, will begin Monday as the chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

A decrease in traffic on the Atlantic City Expressway prompted Moody’s Investors Service last week to downgrade nearly $500 million of South Jersey Transportation Authority revenue bonds to Baa1 from A3. The outlook is stable.

The Georgia Department of Transportation announced Monday that it selected a development team that includes Atlanta-based Cousins Properties Inc. and Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises Inc. to negotiate a contract to become the master developer of a multi-modal passenger terminal in downtown Atlanta.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced Friday that he will not make a decision about moving forward with the $1.2 billion SunRail project until July despite the fact that the project had been approved by the Legislature.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on Tuesday unveiled legislation for a national infrastructure bank that could finance up to $10 billion of projects in each of its first two years.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich reportedly said last week he does not support giving Cincinnati $50 million for a long-planned $150 million streetcar project.

CHICAGO — In a deal brokered by federal authorities, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and officials from American Airlines and United Airlines announced an agreement Monday that allows the city to begin work on $1.17 billion worth of a remaining $3.36 billion of expansion projects at O’Hare International Airport.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Four Florida cities that tried to take control of the planned high-speed rail project from Tampa to Orlando will be allowed to apply for the $2.4 billion of federal funds that Gov. Rick Scott has rejected for the plan, according to Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla.

DALLAS — The Arkansas House on Friday passed a bill calling for a statewide vote on a diesel-fuel tax hike to fund $1.1 billion of bonds for highway efforts.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Las Vegas Monorail Co. bondholder Eaton Vance has broken with other large holders of the bankrupt project’s debt to challenge the settlement that trustee Wells Fargo Bank NA negotiated with Wisconsin state regulators to commute the monorail’s bond insurance policy.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation announced late Friday that it is opening up the $2.4 billion of federal high-speed rail money that was rejected by Florida Gov. Rick Scott to a competitive bidding process for states willing to take on new projects.