Transportation industry

DALLAS — A new report predicts a slower than expected economic recovery in Kansas unless the state can find additional revenues to finance its next 10-year transportation plan.

DALLAS - Austin's plan to introduce commuter rail service to its northern suburbs is running nearly two years behind schedule, as the $105 million Capital MetroRail remains sidelined by technical snags.

CHICAGO - Chicago Mayor Richard Daley yesterday recommended Terry Peterson - the former chief executive officer of the Chicago Housing Authority - to lead the Chicago Transit Authority board following public finance banker Carole Brown's departure.

SAN FRANCISCO - Fitch Ratings upgraded $3.8 billion of San Francisco International Airport revenue bonds to A-plus from A Monday, citing relatively strong performance during an economic downturn that has badly battered most of the nation's other airports.

WASHINGTON - Congress has until tomorrow, the end of the fiscal year, to approve a continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Confusion continues to surround the $1 billion Port of Miami Tunnel concession project, which was expected to reach financial close by Thursday.

The New York State Thruway Authority plans to refund $521.7 million of auction-rate securities this week with a retail order period beginning tomorrow and institutional pricing Thursday. The refunding will further reduce the state's outstanding ARS to $600 million.

WASHINGTON - Airports are likely to face financial difficulties into next year because, despite their successful efforts to stabilize their debt portfolios, they are expected to have a continued slump in airline passenger traffic, Fitch Ratings said in a recent report.

DALLAS - A year after issuing a record $5.3 billion of debt, the North Texas Tollway Authority is preparing a $343 million bond package that will tie up loose ends from its flurry of financing in 2008.

The head of the Arkansas Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance said last week that options for providing at least $200 million of new money each year to the Highway and Transportation Department are becoming clearer.

Air travel may be down, but bonds sold to build a cargo facility at a New York City airport managed to pull up in time, according to Standard & Poor's.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Florida Department of Transportation has set Thursday as the ultimate deadline for financial close on the state's most unique public-private partnership - the $1 billion Port of Miami Tunnel Project. But late last week several FDOT letters to Miami officials placed in doubt, once again, whether the nation's first P3 based on availability payments would come to fruition.

Senate staff and state officials worried during a conference here last week that legislation pending before the House Transportation Committee would go too far by creating a federal office with the power to reject public-private partnership agreements for highways that received federal aid.

Puerto Rico’s Department of Economic Development and Commerce is seeking $70 million of federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery funds to help finance capital projects related to the Port of the America’s development in Ponce.

SAN FRANCISCO — The wheels are grinding slowly toward implementation of a landmark California bill authorizing public-private partnerships for transportation projects, with concerns arising from both would-be public and private participants as to how the P3 process will be implemented.

WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell said yesterday that he supports delaying a reauthorization of the current six-year transportation law until after the 2010 congressional elections.

WASHINGTON — Pension funds may be attracted to Build America Bonds but should be careful to diversify instead of only investing in their own state’s or city’s BABs, a New York City-based private-equity director said at a conference here Thursday.

Traffic at the airport carrying the code FAT has thinned, leading Fitch Ratings Monday to move its outlook on Fresno airport revenue bonds from stable to negative. The BBB-plus rating on about $60 million of outstanding bonds was affirmed.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority on Wednesday approved an application for more than $4.5 billion in federal stimulus money to fund engineering, design and construction on its planned high-speed passenger train system.

WASHINGTON - House lawmakers yesterday easily approved a bill that would extend funding for highways and other surface transportation by three months, after some controversy, as well as a measure to extend funding for airports for the same period of time.