Transportation industry

WASHINGTON — The Federal Transit Administration has launched a $775 million grant program to help local and state governments finance capital projects involving buses and bus facilities. The allocations will be announced in September.

Fitch Ratings last week downgraded its rating on the 2007 debt of the I-470 and 350 Transportation Development District to BBB-plus from A, though the rating is rising to A-minus due to Fitch’s ongoing recalibration of municipal ratings.

Chicago told the Federal Aviation Administration in a quarterly report that it continues to hopes it can resurrect a proposed privatization of Midway Airport.

NEW YORK - The New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority Monday approved up to $1.8 billion, in par value, of borrowing for fiscal 2011 to support road, bridge, and public transportation projects.

CHICAGO — A marriage between Chicago-based United Airlines and Houston-based Continental Airlines may have a limited impact on their key airport facilities, as they operate mostly complementary routes, but it could add to the negative pressures posed by industry consolidation, market participants said yesterday.

DALLAS — The North Texas Tollway Authority plans to test the market’s appetite for a $400 million issue of its lowest-rated debt this week.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed Stephen Goldsmith, a privatization expert, as his deputy mayor for operations.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority last week approved a revised $26.27 billion, five-year capital program at its monthly board meeting. The plan slashes $1.8 billion from an earlier proposal that Gov. David Paterson rejected last year as unaffordable. It now goes to a state oversight board for consideration.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation this week issued guidance on how state and local governments should apply for $600 million for projects under a competitive discretionary grant program.

Smaller airports, transfer hubs, and airports with a large proportion of business from only one or two airlines will be most vulnerable if the remaining U.S. legacy airlines continue to consolidate, Fitch Ratings said in a report issued yesterday.

DALLAS — With its credit rating at the lowest rung of investment grade, Colorado’s E-470 Public Highway Authority has received a negative outlook from Fitch Ratings due to falling toll traffic.

DALLAS — Kansas lawmakers will consider a 10-year, $8.2 billion comprehensive transportation program that authorizes an estimated $1.7 billion of state highway revenue bonds when they reconvene today in Topeka to develop a budget for fiscal 2011.

WASHINGTON — Never before in the U.S. has there been such a push to develop high-speed rail, with Congress and the Obama administration providing funds and new programs that could ultimately get the trains up and running here as they are in other advanced countries.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority last week announced the creation of a transition team to advise the agency on its future direction.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has started doing its own forecasting for dedicated taxes after state projections have repeatedly come in below expectations, MTA staff said yesterday.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority Friday announced it had slashed $1.8 billion from its proposed five-year capital plan in a bid to win state approval. Like an earlier proposal rejected last year by Gov. David Paterson, the slimmed-down $26.27 billion capital program has a $9.91 billion funding gap.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority unanimously voted to endorse Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s proposal to accelerate the region’s mass-transit capital plan.

New Jersey Department of Transportation commissioner James Simpson Thursday said Gov. Chris Christie’s administration is considering several options for replenishing the state’s Transportation Trust Fund.

CHICAGO — The Chicago Transit Authority early next month will restructure about $100 million of its federal capital grant-backed bonds. The agency will avoid principal payments this year and next in order to accelerate capital spending and provide an operating cushion in case fiscal pressures mount.

CHICAGO — Several Midwestern recipients of portions of the $8 billion in federal stimulus funds earmarked for high-speed rail lobbied for more funding to promote overall rail use and defended their projects’ lack of speed against Republican criticism during a congressional field hearing here Tuesday.