Transportation industry

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.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Birmingham Airport Authority, which operates the largest airport in Alabama, expects to be in the municipal market next week to offer new-money bonds for the first time in several years.

WASHINGTON - Chicago asked the Federal Aviation Administration to extend until July 31 the deadline on its application to privatize Midway International Airport.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Although Florida Governor-elect Rick Scott has yet to take a position on the fate of high-speed rail, the state agency overseeing the project is moving toward seeking qualified consortiums to build the $2.6 billion Tampa-to-Orlando line.

CHICAGO — The Wayne County Airport Authority will begin refunding more than $1 billion of senior-lien general airport revenue bonds Monday to achieve interest-rate savings and take advantage of the federal alternative-minimum tax holiday.

Michigan officials said the state’s road construction budget could be chopped in half by 2012 due to falling gas tax revenues.

Tulsa will issue $59 million of general obligation bonds in January to finance its continuing effort to repair and maintain streets.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is set to issue $263 million of sales-tax debt this week or next to help finance capital projects and restructure existing debt for immediate savings.

Port authorities are pushing for Congress to reauthorize a five-year program that provides them with millions of dollars of federal grants.

DALLAS — Transportation officials are considering funding options for a $4.4 billion expansion of Interstate 35E between Dallas and Denton that could be the largest of several major projects in the area.

The Kenton County Airport Board was hit by two downgrades last week.

A Cook County Circuit Court judge earlier this month denied Chicago’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit that challenges the legality of its $1.15 billion, 75-year lease of its parking meter system to Chicago Parking Meters LLC.