Transportation industry

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco International Airport plans to refund $215.9 million of fixed-rate debt with variable-rate demand obligations next week, as it seeks to pair debt with forward swaps it agreed to enter before the financial crisis.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue Thursday said the state could not refinance $424.4 million of transportation debt because the board that oversees road projects has voted to ­maintain accounting practices that violate state law.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie last week updated financial information presented in bond documents, including an estimated $1.52 billion current-year state budget deficit and the limited status of New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority funds.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority voted on Thursday to increase all fares by 10 cents and to tap its reserve fund to close a $40.1 million revenue shortfall for fiscal 2010.

WASHINGTON — High-speed rail proponents rejoiced yesterday after President Obama announced the Federal Railroad Administration has awarded 31 states with a total of $8 billion of high-speed rail grants, the largest of which will go to California, Florida, and the Midwest region.

DALLAS — The Texas Department of Transportation expects to go to market this spring after gaining approval to issue up to $3 billion of general obligation bonds.

The agency building the new Transbay Transit Center project in San Francisco announced Tuesday that it has closed on a $171 million federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan for the project.

The easier it is to get around an area without a car, the less likely a homeowner there will default, all other things being equal, an environmentalist group says.

WASHINGTON — President Obama wants to freeze non-military discretionary spending for three years to save $250 billion over the next decade, but market participants in states, transportation, and other infrastructure sectors are not panicking yet.

BRADENTON, Fla. — President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will be in Florida today to announce which states will share in $8 billion of federal stimulus funding for high-speed rail projects, and the winners will include the Sunshine State.

DALLAS — The Dallas City Council on Wednesday approved the sale by a special local government corporation of up to $500 million of special facilities revenue bonds to finance upgrades at Love Field, the city-owned airport located near downtown.

DALLAS — Denver will commit up to $8 million per year for 20 years to secure a $300 million federal loan for redeveloping its Union Station train terminal as a hub for an ambitious mass-transit system.

MINNEAPOLIS — The highway trust fund will face another funding crisis by August, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman James Oberstar warned at a town hall here yesterday.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority hopes to return to deals structured with level debt service when it goes to market next week, its staff said yesterday. The agency plans to sell $650 million of transportation revenue bonds as a mix of tax-exempt bonds and taxable Build America Bonds on Feb. 3.

CHICAGO — Ohio would create up to 24 new bond-issuing authorities across the state with the ability to impose tolls to finance transportation projects under a bill the House passed last week.

Newly installed Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn wants to ask voters to approve a $241 million bond measure to replace the deteriorating seawall along the city’s waterfront.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing next month on the creation of a national infrastructure bank, chairman Christopher J. Dodd said yesterday.

The New York State Thruway Authority authorized up to $1 billion of bonds secured by the state’s second general resolution dedicated highway and bridge trust fund at its monthly board meeting yesterday.

Miami commissioners late last week approved the sale of $92 million of bonds to build parking facilities for the Florida Marlins’ new baseball stadium, which is under construction.

Detroit businessman Manuel Maroun, who owns the only bridge spanning the busy trade route between Detroit and Canada, has bought a piece of land that could complicate a government plan to build a second bridge across the river.