Transportation industry

WASHINGTON — Senate transportation leaders are in a standoff with their House counterparts over a six-month extension of the current transportation law, as states are experiencing a 30% reduction in their federal highway and bridge funding.

CHICAGO — The Chicago City Council yesterday approved up to $2.85 billion of general obligation and airport bonds slated for sale in early 2010 and signed off on a settlement with a neighboring suburb that ends its litigation against the $8 billion expansion of O’Hare International Airport.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposed a balanced operating budget for 2010 yesterday but set aside additional reserves in case its assumptions prove overly optimistic.

SAN FRANCISCO — Oakland, California’s eighth-most populous city, may have to sell its convention center or securitize its parking revenues to close a projected $44.3 million general fund deficit over the next two years.

WASHINGTON — The Montgomery County Council in Maryland Tuesday unanimously voted against proposed toll rate hikes for the InterCounty Connector, the $2.4 billion toll road currently under construction, and also cut $30 million from the county’s fiscal 2010 budget.

The Atlanta City Council on Monday unanimously approved a new lease with Delta Air Lines at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are pushing for a second economic stimulus bill, and transportation advocates hope it will contain funding for infrastructure without further delaying a multi-year surface transportation reauthorization bill.

Chicago and Bensenville on Monday announced a $16 million settlement that ends opposition to the city’s $8 billion expansion of O’Hare International Airport.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is looking to boost its bond issuance for fiscal 2009 by $200 million, with its next sale set for early to mid-December.

State, regional, and local transportation toll authorities will steadily issue debt as the economy recovers in order to pay for infrastructure maintenance and construction projects that cannot be funded from state and federal coffers, Moody’s Investors Service predicted in a report issued late last week.

The New Hampshire Turnpike System this week will come to market with its first new-money issuance in 10 years with a $218.1 million revenue bond transaction that includes taxable Build America Bonds.

Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas and New York Gov. David Paterson last week announced that officials will replace the Lake Champlain Bridge after engineers said the 80-year-old span can’t be rehabilitated.

The Port of Seattle’s commissioners Tuesday agreed to move forward with a solicitation for financial advisory services.

CHICAGO — An already cash-strapped Illinois would subsidize debt service payments on $166 million of borrowing by the state’s Regional Transportation Authority under a plan announced by Gov. Pat Quinn yesterday to stave off fare hikes proposed by the Chicago Transit Authority.

The Chicago Transit Authority’s proposed $1.3 billion 2010 budget received the endorsement of a local government finance watchdog group for tackling its revenue shortfall with cuts and fare increases.

WASHINGTON — Market participants are pushing for states or the federal government to take a “programmatic” rather than a piecemeal or project-by-project approach to financing infrastructure through public-private partnerships.

DALLAS — As the nation’s port business drifts at low tide, Corpus Christi, Tex., is preparing for better days with a $250 million mixed-use container terminal financed through a public-private partnership.

DALLAS — A decade after Austin-Bergstrom International Airport opened for business, it is keeping the light on for a super low-fare carrier that might want to use its no-frills South Terminal.

The Puerto Rico Public Private Partnerships Authority will pull together a team of advisers to assist it in implementing P3 transactions and releasing requests for proposals related to specific assets.

DALLAS — Public transit agencies will be hard-pressed to maintain existing systems while extending service to new areas during difficult economic times without additional sources of revenue.