Transportation industry

WASHINGTON — Improving economic conditions are likely to put new stresses on the nation’s roads, airports and ports in 2011, but congressional gridlock could stymie efforts to pass already delayed funding packages for capital investments in surface transportation and the air-travel network.

SAN FRANCISCO — A Superior Court judge has granted a restraining order temporarily blocking city and state transportation officials from inking the Presidio Parkway Project deal to upgrade the main roads linking the Golden Gate Bridge with San Francisco.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Southwest Florida Expressway Authority had the potential to issue hundreds of millions in bonds for a toll-road project that was once estimated to cost nearly $1 billion.

California's Business, Transportation & Housing Agency is in the early stages of a plan to remake the state's infrastructure investment market, with a clear focus on public-private partnerships.

Tax-exempt toll revenue bonds and public-private partnerships may be used to finance the $4.1 billion Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project.

The Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois board last week approved a $2.3 billion operating budget for 2011 that taps capital funds to cover operating costs as the agency waits for its share of local sales tax revenue to recover from the recession.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority has approved a $680 million budget for 2011 that marks the first drop in annual spending in the agency's history.

With the year-end deadline approaching, Houston this week will refund $94 million of private-activity bonds for its airport system with variable-rate debt to gain exemption from federal alternative-minimum tax provisions.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Alaska’s Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority announced last week that the Federal Highway Administration has released a formal record of decision approving the route it has planned for its planned Knik Arm Crossing bridge project.

DALLAS — When the Texas Legislature convenes in January, the top priority is expected to be the estimated $25 billion budget shortfall and ongoing problems with education funding.

Fitch Ratings downgraded the underlying rating on Fresno’s $58 million of airport revenue bonds to BBB from BBB-plus.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority adopted a $12.08 billion operating budget for 2011 at its monthly board meeting Wednesday. The budget closes a projected $900 million deficit with a combination of fare and toll increases that go into effect on Jan. 1, labor concessions, efficiency savings, and recurring actions taken this year.

San Francisco officials are pushing ahead with a controversial plan to charge a toll to motorists entering and the exiting the city's downtown during peak hours.

With an eye on its credit ratings, the Delaware River Port Authority chose to keep in place a $1 toll hike Wednesday that was set to begin July 1 after weeks of debate on whether to delay the increase to 2012.

Investors who own bonds issued by the bankrupt Connector 2000 Association Inc. toll road have tentatively reached an agreement with the issuer and South Carolina to exchange their outstanding debt for new bonds.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County is restructuring its management in the wake of a funding controversy involving light-rail expansion in the Houston area.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to issue up to $750 million of taxable Build America Bonds next week to fund capital needs in 2011.

Massachusetts Wednesday will sell its first-ever Commonwealth Transportation Fund bond offering — $576.2 million of taxable debt to repair decrepit bridges.

New Jersey Transit last week hired Patton Boggs LLP to help the agency contest a $271 million repayment demand from the Federal Transit Administration for money it spent on a now-canceled commuter rail tunnel.

Honolulu’s plan to build and finance a 20-mile-long rail transit line is between $678 million and $1.7 billion short of what will be needed to finance construction.