Transportation industry

Congress last week approved a three-month extension of aviation and airport programs that will allow airports to continue to collect the taxes that they use to pay for capital improvements.

WASHINGTON — Crumbling infrastructure may inhibit an economic recovery, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Thursday in a report that relies on a newly created index that measures transportation performance and ties it to the economy.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Atlanta plans to bring $1.34 billion of new and refunding airport revenue bonds to market between November and January in two long-planned transactions.

WASHINGTON — Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell is pushing for the creation of a state transportation infrastructure bank that would be funded with revenue from the privatization of state-owned liquor stores and provide an array of financing tools for road construction and other projects.

The Louisville and Southern Indiana Bridges Authority has adopted four strategic objectives to move it closer to developing a finance plan for a $4.1 billion project that would build two new bridges across the Ohio River between Kentucky and Indiana, and reconfigure a major intersection in Louisville known as Spaghetti Junction.

Fitch Ratings upgraded to A from A-minus the Bi-State Development Agency of the Missouri-Illinois Metropolitan District’s 2002 and 2007 debt due to its improved financial condition, helped by the passage of a sale-tax rate hike.

Standard & Poor’s this week raised its rating on debt issued by three local governments under a Michigan credit-enhancement program for local transportation bonds.

Michigan lawmakers working to meet next week’s deadline for a final fiscal 2011 budget said it appears unlikely it will include a controversial proposal to build a new bridge over the nation’s busiest trade route linking Detroit and Windsor, Canada.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and transportation officials last week announced the start of a $98 million project to upgrade 90 miles of existing railroad track between Alton and Lincoln to prepare the line for high-speed trains.

Chicago Transit Authority president Richard Rodriguez last week said the agency plans to trim $50 million from its next budget by cutting about 70 vacant administration positions and through other measures.

BRADENTON, Fla. — ACA Financial Guaranty Corp. is asking Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority bondholders if they are interested in creating a committee to investigate potential resolutions to the northwest Florida issuer’s looming payment default.

DALLAS — The chief financial officer of Dallas Area Rapid Transit said Monday that he is unconcerned by the effect of a downgrade by one of the major rating agencies on the upcoming sale of $825 million of revenue bonds supported by anemic sales tax income.

SAN FRANCISCO — The first public-private partnership project under a program championed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could lead to the sale of almost $600 million of private-activity bonds to fund a six-lane roadway to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

WASHINGTON — Senior bondholders of a South Carolina toll road’s debt are claiming they are owed at least $237.8 million as they continue to wrestle with state transportation officials over a debt restructuring plan.

WASHINGTON — Despite a renewed push this month for a national infrastructure bank, market participants are at odds over such basic issues as how it would be funded and structured and what projects should receive its help.

CHICAGO — United Airlines and Continental Airlines Inc. are on track to close a merger on Oct. 1 that would create the world’s largest airline based on passenger volume, after shareholders endorsed the union Friday.

WASHINGTON — The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is considering options to trim the new $3.83 billion estimated cost of the Metrorail extension project’s second phase in order to reduce the amount of debt that will be needed.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey last week committed $1 billion toward revamping or replacing the Bayonne Bridge.

New Jersey Transit will suspend for 30 days new contracts and work on a new passenger-rail tunnel that will run under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan, as the federal government believes the project may cost an additional $1 billion.

DALLAS — Dallas Area Rapid Transit lost its AAA rating from Standard & Poor’s Friday as analysts assigned DART’s upcoming $825 million bond deal a AA-plus.