Transportation industry

House and Senate leaders may soon include a six-month extension of the current transportation law in an omnibus appropriations bill, as the Dec. 18 expiration date of the latest extension approaches, sources said Friday.

House transportation leaders yesterday said they will push for as much as $69 billion of infrastructure grants to states to be included in any job-creation bill that is put forward and approve an extension of the current law.

North Carolina is hoping to capitalize on the recession’s silver lining by financing highway construction with an innovative contract between the state and private contractors — a deal that could accomplish one of Gov. Beverly Perdue’s transportation goals, even though the state treasurer’s office has expressed some reservations.

The Georgia Department of Transportation today hosts an industry workshop in Atlanta about its new public-private partnership program.

The Florida Legislature begins a special session today to consider creating a statewide passenger rail policy and to approve funding for existing and new rail projects.

A coalition of transportation, environmental, and housing groups is asking House and Senate leaders to limit infrastructure programs in any forthcoming jobs bill to just one year and to direct spending toward the rehabilitation and operation of existing infrastructure instead of new construction projects.

DALLAS — New economic reality may alter the current financial plan for the Denver area’s $6.2 billion FasTracks transportation project, a consultant’s report suggests.

DALLAS — A team of developers will receive the proceeds of $400 million of private-activity bonds this month to finance one of the most ambitious public-private toll operations in Texas: a $2 billion project known as the North Tarrant Express.

WASHINGTON — High-speed rail is the “newest gravy train” in Washington, D.C., with more than 50 public and private groups having registered in the last quarter to lobby for billions of dollars of federal aid — a threefold increase from a year ago, the Center for Public Integrity found in a recent investigation.

The Arkansas Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance said last week it would issue its first series of recommendations on how to finance city, county, and local roadwork in early 2010. Members said they will offer several options for consideration by the public.

Connecticut will round out the year with a new public-private partnership for highway service plazas. In December, a consortium will take over operations of 23 service plazas and sink in millions of dollars to upgrade the facilities.

Fitch Ratings last week stripped the Chesterfield Valley Transportation Development District’s 2006 sales tax bonds of their investment-grade rating as the issuer is expected to tap debt service reserves to fully cover its April payment.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is watching for an opportunity to refinance nearly $600 million of floating-rate debt, including variable-rate bonds now owned by banks.

WASHINGTON — As infrastructure increasingly plays a key role in investment decisions nationwide, Minneapolis-based Piper Jaffray & Co. has expanded its transportation banking team and added to its Northeast staff.

CHICAGO — The board of the Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois late last week approved the issuance of up to $166 million of bonds to free up federal capital funds to help trim a Chicago Transit Authority budget deficit and stave off a fare increase.

CHICAGO — The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority tomorrow enters the market with its second Build America Bond sale of the year — a $280 million revenue bond issue that marks the final borrowing needed for the agency’s five-year-old $6 billion rebuilding and expansion of the Chicago-area toll highway system.

With the Thanksgiving holiday on the menu, issuers, underwriters, and bankers have very few deals scheduled to take place during the shortened trading week.

Bond offering documents for the controversial Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn will go to the issuer’s board for approval tomorrow. If approved, the bonds may be sold before the end of the year and the proceeds put into escrow while ongoing legal challenges continue in the courts.

The New York State Thruway Authority last week passed a $1.2 billion 2010 operating budget with no plans to issue general revenue bonds in 2010, the third year in row it will not sell long-term debt on its own credit.

Massachusetts officials selected four investment firms to work on refinancing $800 million of fixed-rate Massachusetts Turnpike Authority debt into variable-rate mode.