Transportation industry

With two newly elected Midwestern governors entering office on platforms opposing high-peed passenger train projects in their states, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is telling the federal government that he would be happy to take their money.

DALLAS — New Orleans had hoped to get up to $1 billion from leasing Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to a private operator. But the recent decision by the city to terminate the privatization effort leaves it reconsidering an earlier proposal that included a possible transfer of the facility to Louisiana.

The New York State Thruway Authority approved a $1.1 billion budget Wednesday with no plans to issue general revenue bonds in 2011 for capital projects. Instead, the agency plans to roll over its $680 million of outstanding bond anticipation notes that are due in mid-2011.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority projected that lower returns on pension fund investments would widen out-year budget gaps, officials announced during a budget presentation Wednesday.

Wake County’s tax base is expected to grow by less than 1% in the current fiscal year, hampered by flat sales-tax revenue and continued declines in motor vehicle tax collections, the county’s top commissioner said this week.

WASHINGTON — Airport executives made one more attempt this week to convince Senate tax lawmakers to extend two popular bond-financing provisions beyond the end of this year so that airports can continue to borrow at lower rates.

Pittsburgh City Council President Darlene Harris Tuesday introduced a resolution that would direct additional parking-fee revenue into the city’s pension fund to help boost its funding level and ward off a potential state takeover.

CHICAGO — Indianapolis will lease its parking meters for 50 years to a private company under a controversial plan by Mayor Greg Ballard that was narrowly approved Monday by the city-county council.

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission recently named engineer Kevin Keith as director of the Missouri Department of Transportation.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday said it would fund the design and construction of a second new control tower at O’Hare International Airport as part of an $8 billion runway expansion.

DALLAS — Amid a flood of municipal issuance in the last six weeks of the year, the North Texas Tollway Authority will bring around $1.5 billion of debt to market, starting with nearly $500 million of tax-exempt refunding revenue bonds this week.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority tabled the selection of a new underwriting syndicate after a board member questioned the choices at a finance committee meeting Monday.

SAN FRANCISCO — A public employee union is suing to block a California public-private partnership that would design, build, operate, and maintain a six-lane link between San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.

WASHINGTON — The South Carolina Infrastructure Bank, the state’s main issuer for highway project funding, expects to competitively sell $225 million of new-money and refunding bonds on Tuesday, following a downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service to A1 from Aa3 due to weakened debt-service coverage.

DALLAS — Standard & Poor’s last week downgraded the Regional ­Transportation District of Colorado’s lease-revenue debt to A-minus from A-plus as it prepares to issue $310 million of certificates of participation.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Jose, Calif., has been forced to piece together bank backing for short-term notes that have helped pay for a more than $1 billion airport terminal.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is warning the incoming Republican governors of two Midwestern states that unless they use certain grant funding for high-speed rail projects, they will lose the funds entirely.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Finance Authority board this week approved the first tranche of private-activity borrowing planned by CenterPoint Joliet Terminal Railroad LLC to finance ongoing construction at its intermodal freight-transfer facility in Joliet under a $15 billion federal government pilot program.

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is inching closer to becoming a bond issuer and could offer its first deal as early as next year.

CHICAGO — Transit advocates in central Indiana plan to push forward with a high-profile regional transportation plan that features a $2.5 billion mass-transit expansion despite opposition from Republican leaders.