Transportation industry

CHICAGO — The Indianapolis Airport Authority on Tuesday will price a yet-to-be determined amount of refunding bonds to take advantage of the federal alternative-minimum tax holiday.

WASHINGTON — Federal transportation officials Thursday reclaimed $1.195 billion of high-speed and intercity passenger rail grants from Ohio and Wisconsin. The funds will be parceled out to several states, the U.S. Department of Transportation said after warning last month that incoming Republican governors in the two states must use the funds for rail or lose them entirely.

WASHINGTON — The $1.2 trillion continuing resolution the House approved Wednesday to keep federal agencies and programs funded through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 would increase funding for financial regulators and extend transportation and aviation funding as well as nuclear loan guarantees.

WASHINGTON — The Capital Beltway Funding Corporation of Virginia, the issuer for $589 million for the Capital Beltway expansion project, on Monday will sell refunding bonds to convert its debt to tax-exempt bonds not subject to the alternative minimum tax, taking advantage of the stimulus law provision ­before it expires at the end of the year.

Two bipartisan groups are pressing federal lawmakers and the president to get cracking on a solution to the funding crisis troubling the nation's transportation sector. They warned that Congress needs to find a new revenue source instead of leaning on proposals for a national infrastructure bank or increased privatization.

Delaware River Port Authority board members continue to push for a delay of toll and fare increases as its financial advisers warn of potential credit-rating downgrades and fiscal pressures the bistate agency may face if it postpones future revenue enhancements.

Hoping to tap the same investor momentum seen in a recent oversubscribed offering, Atlanta has accelerated plans to market a $505 million refunding for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport that was expected to sell next year.

The nonprofit Atlanta BeltLine Partnership has created an organization called the Atlanta Land Trust Collaborative to protect neighborhoods at risk of displacement as the city's massive BeltLine project proceeds. The ALTC will be led by executive director Anthony Pickett, the partnership announced Monday.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey passed a $7.17 billion operating and capital budget Tuesday for calendar year 2011 that keeps operating growth flat while boosting capital spending.

Republican Governor-elect John Kasich said last week that he would consider a plan to privatize the Ohio Turnpike.

San Antonio this week plans to price $101 million of airport revenue bonds with an increasingly unusual feature — bond insurance.

CHICAGO — Ohio plans to begin taking retail orders Tuesday on $230 million of double-A rated Garvee bonds and opening the sale to institutional buyers Wednesday.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Georgia Department of Transportation has issued a request for proposals for a master developer to undertake a complex multi-modal passenger terminal in downtown Atlanta that will help shape future city ­development.

Massachusetts next week plans its first-ever bond sale from the Commonwealth Transportation Fund, a new credit that grabbed triple-A ratings last week from Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s.

Puerto Rico last week released a request for proposals that will begin the bidding by four short-listed contenders to run and maintain its busiest toll road.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority Wednesday will issue $1.5 billion of taxable Build America Bonds following Moody’s Investors Service’s revision of the credit’s outlook to negative from stable.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority in north Florida has received a letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission inquiring about “disclosure issues,” the board’s attorney, Roy Andrews, said during a special meeting late Wednesday.

Gov. Chris Christie Thursday announced that the New Jersey Transit Authority hired the Washington law firm Patton Boggs LLP to help the state challenge the Federal Transit Administration’s demand that it repay $271 million in federal money the state spent on a canceled commuter-rail tunnel.

DALLAS — The final report on highway financing in Arkansas, delivered to state leaders on Wednesday, recommends asking voters to approve higher taxes to support $1.8 billion of revenue bonds for transportation projects.

Financial analysts Wednesday warned the Delaware River Port Authority that delaying a planned July 1 toll increase could result in rating downgrades of the bi-state agency, which could then prompt a payment of about $220 million on two of the agency’s swaps.