Transportation industry

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.

MIAMI — Legislation authorizing a national infrastructure bank could see renewed momentum this month as the Obama administration begins to prepare its fiscal 2012 budget.

MIAMI — Despite some setbacks in privatizing major U.S. airports, including the economic downturn and contraction among airlines, prospects remain good for future public-private partnerships, industry experts and airline officials said here Tuesday.

MIAMI — Two senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee, including the panel’s outgoing ranking Republican, are calling for a gradual increase of the gasoline tax by 25 cents over three years.

Retiring Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle Monday said the fate of the $810 million, federally funded high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee is now in the hands of Governor-elect Scott Walker.

Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop last week said lame-duck lawmakers will not act on a controversial plan to build a $1 billion, publicly owned bridge over the Detroit River.

Public bus service in Nassau County, N.Y., could be privatized after talks on Monday between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the county executive produced no resolution in a funding dispute.

The Bond Buyer’s editors Tuesday announced the finalists for the newspaper’s ninth annual Deal of the Year Awards.

New Jersey Transit and Amtrak are in preliminary discussions to improve passenger rail service between New Jersey and Manhattan following New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s termination of a $9.4 billion commuter-rail tunnel that was the nation’s largest public transportation project.

MIAMI — With the potential expiration of popular Build America Bonds at the end of the year, issuers looking to finance transportation projects should not rule out using variable-rate debt in their portfolios or wrapping bonds with insurance, experts said here Monday.

MIAMI — The environment of ­austerity in the federal and state capitols will have a jarring effect on funding for transportation projects, but could present an opportunity for tolling, increased public-private partnerships, or an infrastructure bank, market participants said Monday at The Bond Buyer’s 11th Annual Transportation Finance Public-Private Partnership conference.

Atlanta may bring its next airport bond issue to market sooner than anticipated because of widespread investor interest in last week's successful sale of $588 million for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, officials said.