Transportation industry

DALLAS - The New Orleans Aviation Board can begin the process of seeking bids for a long-term lease on Louis Armstrong International Airport following initial federal approval of the proposal to turn the city-owned facility into the first privately operated major passenger airport in the United States.

CHICAGO - As Michigan legislators continue to wrangle over a 2010 budget, a group of environmental and transportation activists this week urged officials and Gov. Jennifer Granholm to drop plans to build a new $1.8 billion border crossing between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

SAN FRANCISCO - San Jose, Calif.'s Norman Y. Mineta International Airport added a tax-exempt private-activity series to its commercial paper program last week as it began to take advantage of the alternative minimum tax holiday.

CHICAGO - Public finance banker Carole Brown will step down as chairwoman of the Chicago Transit Authority board after Chicago Mayor Richard Daley names a replacement so she can focus on her work at Siebert, Brandford Shank & Co.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation has identified 111 bridges across the state that will be replaced, repaired, or rehabilitated through a new initiative aimed at reducing the number of structurally deficient bridges in the state.

House Transportation Committee chairman James L. Oberstar plans to bring a three-month extension of the current transportation funding law to the House for a vote today and insisted in an interview Monday that he will not support any further extensions in lieu of a new multi-year bill.

New Jersey officials yesterday broke ground on a new $247 million port facility as the South Jersey Port Corp. prepares to issue $56 million of state-appropriation debt in the next few months to help finance site preparations.

Maintaining New York's double-A range credit rating is a priority, Lieut. Gov. Richard Ravitch said hours after his appointment was ruled legal by the state's highest court yesterday.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Moody’s Investors Service late Monday downgraded the Florida Department of Transportation’s turnpike revenue bond rating to Aa3 from Aa2, citing rapid declines in traffic and revenue along the 460 miles of established toll roads operated by the Turnpike Enterprise system.

CHICAGO - Moody's Investors Service yesterday downgraded the Chicago Transit Authority's $1.9 billion of debt from its 2008 pension-related issue one notch to A1, citing the compounding strains of faltering sales and real estate transaction taxes along with Illinois' liquidity problems.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, has appointed himself to the state’s Special Committee on Transportation, which will focus on finding ways to finance Kansas’ next 10-year transportation plan.

Officials in Chandler said the Phoenix suburb may need a bond program within the next five years to keep up with street upkeep expenses that are expected to almost double by 2014.

The Senate last week approved a fiscal 2010 transportation and housing appropriations bill that included more than $1 billion each for rail projects and discretionary grants. Now the Senate and House, which passed its bill in July, must meet to resolve their differences over a national infrastructure bank, high-speed rail, and community development block grants.

DALLAS - Now that the Dallas Cowboys have launched their first season in their new $1.2 billion stadium in Arlington, the city of Irving is preparing to implode the team's old home - Texas Stadium - and use the site to stage a massive freeway reconstruction effort.

The Delaware River Port Authority last week approved the termination of a forward-starting swap with UBS Securities LLC at an estimated cost to the agency of $35 million.

The New York State Thruway Authority last week announced its selection of firms to serve as bond counsel on state-supported debt.

WASHINGTON — The House Transportation Committee is expected to vote next week on a bill to extend the current transportation authorization law before it expires at the end of the month, but still needs to bridge the large gap between its own timeline and the Senate’s before the extension can move forward.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The $1 billion Port of Miami Tunnel project inched forward Tuesday when Miami-Dade County commissioners approved an irrevocable $75 million letter of credit provided by Wachovia Bank NA to be used in helping to fund a portion of the project.

So many state and local governments are in fierce competition for $1.5 billion of discretionary grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation that it may be impossible for most of them to receive funding.

CHICAGO - Michigan could partner with private companies to build or operate its highways and bridges to boost badly needed transportation revenue under a bill being considered by the Legislature.