Transportation industry

The Delaware River Port Authority is embarking on a series of reforms intended to professionalize the bi-state agency, which has been the subject of allegations of fiscal mismanagement, and avoid similar problems in the future.

The Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority could deplete its debt-service reserve in the current fiscal year, which could result in a payment default next July, Florida Department of Transportation officials said Wednesday.

The Oklahoma Transportation Commission last week approved the sale of $215 million of bonds to finance the next phase of the state's eight-year highway plan. The blueprint, which includes almost $4.3 billion of road and bridge work through 2018, is updated annually.

The Kansas Department of Transportation will begin a $1.7 billion bond financing for the state's new transportation plan with today's negotiated sale of $325 million of taxable Build America Bonds.

WASHINGTON — The South Carolina Department of Transportation is challenging the Connector 2000 Association Inc.’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing, delaying efforts to restructure $369 million of the agency’s toll road bonds that went into default at the beginning of the year.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is looking for $32.5 million of federal funds to help finance added rail capacity at Boston’s South Station.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is gearing up to sell about $600 million of revenue debt on Wednesday, including taxable Build America Bonds, to help finance infrastructure needs on the state’s 535-mile toll road.

WASHINGTON — Fitch Ratings this week released expanded global criteria that its analysts will use to evaluate debt secured by tolled facilities such as roads, bridges, and tunnels.

DALLAS — Louisiana is taking $403.5 million of gasoline and fuel-tax bonds to market next week as tax-exempt debt, rather than Build America Bonds, in response to investor demand.

The Georgia Department of Transportation announced Monday that it has applied for $34 million in federal funding to accelerate development of high-speed rail service between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tenn., with additional links eventually being added to Nashville and Louisville, Ky.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida is on a fast track to complete the first high-speed rail project in the U.S. with a new application for $1.12 billion in funding from the Federal Railroad Administration’s service development program.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — A year and a half after Seattle-area voters approved a sales tax hike to finance $18 billion in mass transit projects, a quarter of that amount has evaporated due to reduced economic activity.

DALLAS — Austin Bergstrom International Airport’s Hilton hotel faces a deepening financial hole in the wake of a series of defaults on $49 million of revenue bonds, according to a recent audit.

DALLAS — Austin voters will decide in November on $90 million of general obligation bonds devoted to transportation efforts following unanimous action by the City Council.

The Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnerships Authority last week announced that it has qualified 115 teams to participate in a request for proposals to renovate public schools.

Pennsylvania’s legislature will hold a hearing next month on possible mismanagement at the Delaware River Port Authority.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Thursday approved a $1.2 billion expansion of a terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport on behalf of Delta Air Lines and its partners.

Massachusetts hospitals and higher educational institutions could face higher borrowing costs in the future as the state plans to fold the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority into the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency.

WASHINGTON — A new study released this week by the Government Accountability Office shows that nearly all states have gotten back at least as much money as they contributed to the federal highway trust fund — a revelation that contradicts some lawmakers’ claims that certain states are subsidizing others’ highway and bridge costs under the current system.

CHICAGO — Fitch Ratings on Monday downgraded more than $220 million of general airport revenue bonds issued for Kansas City International Airport by one notch due to a decline in debt-service coverage ratios and increased exposure to non-airline related revenues.