Transportation industry

After meeting with Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Friday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood gave the state another week to decide once and for all if it wants $2.4 billion in federal funds to build a high-speed rail network.

Arkansas voters would be asked to decide on $2.8 billion of state bonds for highway projects under a proposal to be introduced next week by House Speaker Robert Moore Jr.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott Thursday told four local governments that he would not change his mind about accepting $2.4 billion of federal funds for a high-speed rail project.

SAN FRANCISCO — A Superior Court judge in California has denied a lawsuit brought by a public employees' union that sought to block a plan for a public-private partnership to rebuild a road linking San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.

WASHINGTON — Supporters of the Florida high-speed rail project are scrambling to come up with options to preserve it after Gov. Rick Scott rejected $2.4 billion of federal funding last week.

A hearing has been pushed back a week to March 1 on Chicago's motion asking a Cook County Circuit Court judge to dismiss a suit challenging the city's authority to proceed with $3.36 billion worth of expansion projects at O'Hare International Airport without airline approval.

DALLAS — As Texas urban transit authorities continue to expand light-rail lines to ease congestion, they are also investing heavily in their workhorse buses, combining local and federal funds to develop cleaner, more efficient systems.

Bills to appropriate $150 million from the Alaska general fund for the Knik Arm Crossing bridge project advanced from a Senate committee this week.

DALLAS — The North Texas Tollway Authority’s decision in 2007 to pay $3.2 billion for the right to build the Sam Rayburn Tollway was a mistake that has limited its ability to take on new projects, according to NTTA chairman Victor ­Vandergriff.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott Wednesday rejected $2.4 billion in federal funding toward the state’s $2.6 billion high-speed rail project from Orlando to Tampa before reviewing the most recent ridership and revenue study.

House members have proposed almost 600 amendments be added to the continuing resolution needed to keep the federal government operating for the remainder of fiscal 2011, including additional spending cuts that could jeopardize the Los Angeles County Metro extension and other transportation projects.

No major funds are included in the Obama administration’s fiscal 2012 budget for deepening the harbor at the Port of Savannah.

Strong sales activity by education, electric power, and transportation issuers overcame 2010’s slump in health-care related debt to help bring total 2010 volume to a record $433.3 billion. All 10 bond sectors benefited from the availability of Build America Bonds and other stimulus debt efforts, which accounted for significant portions of the debt issued by each sector in 2010.

BRADENTON, Fla. — A plan to cut $500 million of costs from the $4.1 billion Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project has triggered the need for additional federal environmental studies.

Pennsylvania lawmakers are working on legislation that would enable public-private-partnerships to help finance transportation infrastructure needs throughout the state.

SAN FRANCISCO — Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s plan to lease city garages to private investors to raise money that would close a year-end budget hole and defease bonds is on the rocks.

The first three highway projects financed through a $10-year, $8.2 billion transportation initiative called T-WORKS are an investment in public infrastructure, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said at a news conference last week.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority on Wednesday issued a request for expressions of interest, the first of many steps the authority would take if it is able to move forward with plans to spend $5.5 billion to build the first segment of a dedicated, high-speed passenger train line linking San Francisco with the Los Angeles area.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded $764 million of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority assessment bonds Thursday to Aa1 from Aaa to reflect the credit rating agency’s pool financing methodology.

House Republican leaders are calling for a bill to be introduced next week that would temporarily extend transportation programs, John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said at a conference here on Tuesday.