Transportation industry

The Regional Transportation Authority will cut internal spending in its $36.7 million budget by 12% and work with its transit service boards — the Chicago Transit Authority, Pace suburban bus service and Metra commuter rail — to reduce costs due to revised revenue estimates that were lowered by $61 million.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Atlanta City Council on Monday approved the sale of $1.4 billion of new-money and refunding bonds, with most of the proceeds going toward completion of the new international terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

General Motors Corp. late last month announced its selection of Orion Township for an assembly plant to build its future small-car model — one bit of good news for local and Michigan state officials grappling with dwindling revenues and high unemployment made worse by the struggling auto industry.

DALLAS - The Texas Transportation Commission has a new lease on life and $2 billion more in bonding capacity available after a two-day special legislative session that ended Thursday, but some funding methods remain in limbo.

A Florida Department of Transportation project engineer said Monday that the agency is evaluating whether to restart the nearly $2 billion concession project near Jacksonville known as the First Coast Outer Beltway.

Florida officials yesterday said the state’s first Build America Bond sale — a $255 million taxable deal — would save $56.1 million for the state’s turnpike enterprise system.

DALLAS - A bill to authorize a $2 billion bond issue for the Texas Department of Transportation is already in the hopper, awaiting debate at today's special session of the Legislature. But the contentious issue of toll roads could extend the session beyond Gov. Rick Perry's goal of three days, lawmakers say.

WASHINGTON - A legislative proposal to establish a system of metropolitan infrastructure banks included in the $450 billion multi-year transportation bill making its way through the House is drawing questions about the banks' utility, whether they would be redundant, and if there would be a market for bonds issued to capitalize them.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority yesterday entered into an agreement with the commonwealth in which the agency will receive $100 million from Massachusetts' coffers to help cover debt service costs during the next 30 years in return for the agency not implementing a toll hike on the Metropolitan Highway System in fiscal 2010.

The Arkansas Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance last week hired two economists to help it determine the true cost of maintaining state roads at recommended levels.

The first projects financed under Tulsa’s Fix The Streets effort will get under way this summer, with proceeds from the first $11 million of the $285 million of general obligation bonds authorized for the five-year program.

President Obama may have chosen a man from outside of the transportation finance universe to be his transportation secretary when he tapped former Rep. Ray LaHood for the job, but his picks for other posts at the department have included several veterans in transportation finance and policy.

SAN FRANCISCO - Moody's Investors Service today cut its outlook for the U.S. ports sector to negative from stable amid steep drops in consumer demand and global trade.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick Friday signed into law a bill to end the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority by the end of the year.

DALLAS - Despite reservations about the state's rising debt service amid falling revenues, Texas transportation officials plan to issue all $4.9 billion of voter-authorized bonds for its projects as soon as possible.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority expects to issue $136.8 million of airport system revenue variable-rate bonds on Wednesday to refinance outstanding revenue notes.

DALLAS — Texas lawmakers will get another chance to authorize $2 billion of transportation bonds and keep five state agencies in business, under Gov. Rick Perry’s call for a special session.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Kentucky General Assembly adjourned its special session Wednesday after plugging a $1 billion hole in the upcoming budget and creating a new bonding authority that will help the state finance some or all of its share of the $4 billion Ohio River Bridges Project.

SAN FRANCISCO — Orange County, Calif.’s John Wayne Airport is a bit of an oddball among airports. And it’s those differences that have helped it garner a rating upgrade that airport officials hope will portend a successful bond issue next week.

WASHINGTON — In the aftermath of a fatal subway accident here this week, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee has warned a transportation group that he may consider drafting legislation that would prevent tax-advantaged lease-back deals from blocking transit authorities from maintaining or upgrading their subway cars.