Transportation industry

After a nearly five-year hiatus from the public sector, Kim Paparello Vaccari in early April joined New Jersey Transit as deputy chief financial officer under the current CFO, Charlie Wedel. When Wedel retires later this year from his 18-year tenure at NJTransit, Paparello Vaccari will head the agency’s finance department.

WASHINGTON — A Department of Transportation official received a tongue-lashing from House lawmakers yesterday during a subcommittee hearing on whether a long-term transportation bill would help to prolong any economic recovery generated by the two-year stimulus law.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 18 to 1 yesterday to extend the current transportation law by 18 months so lawmakers have more time to reach consensus on how to fund a multi-year replacement law and can focus on pending health care and climate change legislation.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation expects to issue $250 million of grant anticipation revenue vehicle bonds on Monday after receiving a rating upgrade earlier this month.

Florida’s long-held dream of having a bullet train is back on track with Gov. Charlie Crist announcing that the state Department of Transportation has submitted an application for funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s high-speed intercity passenger rail program.

Roughly $2.1 billion of Massachusetts Turnpike Authority debt received a boost yesterday when Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill that will direct $100 million each year to debt service costs on the bonds, a move that may help raise the agency's triple-B credit rating.

The Georgia Department of Transportation and Atlanta BeltLine Inc. last Thursday announced that they entered into a purchase agreement giving Atlanta the option of acquiring a major portion of right of way for the long-planned BeltLine project.

WASHINGTON - The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is expected to vote today on a bill that would extend the current transportation spending law until 2011, despite opposition from within the committee and from key House members.

By the end of October, the 57-year-old Massachusetts Turnpike Authority will cease to exist and a larger, more expansive bonding authority will take over MassPike's operations, assets, and its $2.2 billion of debt.

New York Gov. David Paterson yesterday appointed a former Metropolitan Transportation Authority official to be chairman and chief executive officer of the agency.

DALLAS - Montgomery County, Tex., commissioners are laying the groundwork for a $335 million road bond issue with public hearings next month and a possible ballot proposal in November.

The North Texas Tollway Authority is assembling a roughly $1.7 billion bond package that will kick off next month with $790 million of taxable Build America Bonds and $530 million of tax-exempt debt in a deal that will test the market's appetite for paper in the low A-rated category.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority announced on Friday that it will issue up to $1.3 billion of Dulles Toll Road revenue bonds in early August.

WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is making clear the Obama administration is committed to funding and promoting the use of ports, which credit rating analysts said have the potential to improve the financial strength of port bond issuers that are under pressure amid the economic downturn.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is considering whether to move forward with two bond deals before it gains a new board of directors on Nov. 1 as part of the state’s overall transportation reform initiative.

The New Jersey Transit Authority yesterday approved two spending measures for fiscal 2010, a $1.39 billion capital plan and a $1.79 billion operating budget as the agency reached its 30th year of providing mass-transit services throughout the Garden State.

The West Virginia Parkways, Economic Development and Tourism Authority last week voted to raise tolls on the state’s turnpike to protect bondholders and insure that the 88-mile-long toll road remains in good condition.

WASHINGTON - The North Carolina Turnpike Authority expects to issue $616 million of bonds next week for the Triangle Expressway System - a project designed to relieve traffic in one of the nation's fastest-growing regions but delayed for months by the credit crisis.

Planners should consider building and tolling more roads to reduce traffic congestion in the future, even though congestion in urban areas declined slightly in 2007 because of higher gas prices and may continue to do so because of the recession, the Texas Transportation Institute said a report released yesterday.

WASHINGTON - A key Republican senator is opposing an 18-month extension of the current surface transportation law and urging Obama administration officials to use unspent federal stimulus funds to replenish the Highway Trust Fund, which is expected to run out of money this summer.