Transportation industry

BRADENTON, Fla. — Miami-Dade County, Fla., next week is pricing $524 million of tax-exempt aviation revenue bonds in what is expected to be the last major financing for Miami International Airport’s $6.49 billion capital improvement plan.

New Jersey Transit Wednesday approved a $1.79 billion operating budget and a $1.35 billion capital plan for fiscal 2011, which began July 1.

West Virginia estimated it saved about $4 million on a $37.7 million general obligation road refinancing deal last week after Moody’s Investors Service upgraded the state’s GO rating to Aa1 from Aa2.

A bond package designed to ease transportation woes in Austin grew by $5 million to $90 million in a revised proposal released last week. The City Council is expected to vote later this month to put the general obligation bond proposal on the November general election ballot.

WASHINGTON — The Maryland Transportation Authority this week expects to price $299 million of revenue bonds for construction projects, the bulk of which will finance continuing construction of the InterCounty Connector.

CHICAGO — The Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission will enter the market later this month with a nearly $150 million mostly new-money sale of senior-lien revenue bonds as it seeks to take advantage of the federal alternative minimum tax holiday.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Transit Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation Thursday announced $300 million in competitive grants for cities and local agencies to pay for 53 transit proposals including bus, streetcar and trolley projects.

Holders of first-tier debt issued for the Las Vegas Monorail have nothing to show for their most recent scheduled interest payment.

Investors and the state of South Carolina are haggling over who will get a bigger share of revenue from a bankrupt bond-funded toll road.

DALLAS — The Port of Seattle will upgrade equipment at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and refinance several series of outstanding debt with proceeds from next week’s negotiated sale of $394.6 million of intermediate-line revenue bonds.

A public-private partnership of the Greater Birmingham Regional Planning Commission, the Georgia Department of Transportation, and Norfolk-Southern railroad will study the feasibility of a high-speed rail connection between Birmingham and Atlanta.

DALLAS — The Texas Transportation Commission is preparing a record $1.5 billion bond issue under the voter-approved program known as Proposition 14 that dedicates fuel taxes and vehicle fees toward highway construction.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch last week signed a $3.62 billion 10-year transportation plan into law.

WASHINGTON — Airports would receive steady funding until August, and the federal government would reclaim $17.4 million of unused transit funding this fiscal year, if two separate bills approved this week by the Senate and a House committee become law.

WASHINGTON — The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s outlook was revised to negative by Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday, ahead of a $350 million revenue bond transaction it has scheduled for later this month.

Moody’s Investors Service Wednesday downgraded $2.68 billion of subordinate Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission bonds to A3 from A2 and assigned a negative outlook to the credit.

The House yesterday unanimously approved legislation that would extend airport funding for one month and give airports the ability to collect passenger facilities charges, which they often use to repay bonds.

The Austin City Council voted last week to spend $100,000 to study how to finance an urban rail system that is expected to cost $1.3 billion.

Deb Miller, secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation, last week said the federal stimulus program has created more than 3,300 transportation-related jobs in the state along with a total monthly payroll of some $4.4 million.

An interim draft report from a special committee looking at Arkansas highway financing includes an option for a 10-year, 0.5% sales tax that would back a bond program.