Transportation industry

House Transportation Committee chairman James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., is expected to unveil a white paper tomorrow outlining the upcoming multi-year highway bill, but it probably will not contain details about the funding levels, revenue sources, or tax provisions necessary to pay for transportation programs, sources said yesterday.

Moody’s Investors Service last week placed the Chicago Transit Authority’s $2 billion of sales and transfer tax receipts bonds and lease revenue bonds on negative watch, an action that stems from Moody’s downgrade earlier this month of the CTA’s parent agency.

DALLAS - The North Texas Tollway Authority is all but certain to raise tolls to preserve its debt-service coverage after revenues for 2009 fell by nearly 11%, officials indicated yesterday.

Standard & Poor’s this week knocked the Detroit Local Development Finance Authority’s tax increment financing bonds Series 1997B and C and 1998A further into junk bond territory due to “significant uncertainty” over the future of a Chrysler plant that makes up most of the taxable value of the district.

SAN FRANCISCO - Siebert Brandford Shank & Co. has announced the formation of a transportation finance group.

DALLAS - Dallas Area Rapid Transit expects to make history with its record $1 billion bond issue today. The triple-A rated deal is not only DART's largest ever, but the biggest in the Southwest so far this year.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Atlanta Board of Education on Monday affirmed its participation in two of the city’s tax allocation districts, clearing a major hurdle to advancing up to $200 million of bonds for the long-delayed BeltLine project.

DALLAS - With the fate of five state agencies in limbo, Texas Gov. Rick Perry confirmed that he will call a special session of the Legislature, but said he has not decided when or what issues will be included.

Bucking a nationwide trend of decline for most airports, the rating outlook for Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport last week was revised to stable from negative when its credit ratings were affirmed.

Fitch Ratings affirmed its top ratings on the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Airport Commission and its $261 million of general obligation debt.

The New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust may finance nearly $900 million of clean water and wastewater projects in fiscal 2010, almost double its typical annual program, with the aid of federal and state stimulus funds.

A group of transportation experts yesterday urged Congress to develop a new agenda for transportation that creates and expands bond-related financing programs and sets specific national goals but gives states and localities maximum funding flexibility for projects.

CHICAGO - The Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois in coming weeks will convert $133 million of high interest-rate variable-rate securities to a new, more affordable mode and enter the market to raise $260 million for cash flow as the agency grapples with dwindling sales taxes and state payment delays.

DALLAS - The North Texas Tollway Authority will apply $133 million of federal stimulus funds to its first toll project in Tarrant County, officials said.

House Transportation Committee chairman James L. Oberstar is lighting a fire under lawmakers to approve a multi-year transportation funding authorization bill by Sept. 30, vowing he will not sponsor or approve any short-term extension to the current law.

Unable to recover from an adverse court decision earlier this year, the company that ran the Hawaii Superferry filed for bankruptcy Saturday.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which aims to boost transit fares by 10% to 20% in the fall, yesterday approved moving forward with a public hearing process on the planned price hike.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco International Airport this week converted most of its floating-rate private-activity bonds subject to the alternative minimum tax into tax-exempt debt.

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority staff last week recommended fare and parking increases and modest service cuts along with a total budget of $787.6 million for fiscal 2010.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith yesterday announced the launch of a working group that will push for the creation of a new federal "center of excellence" that municipal and state officials could consult for guidance on public-private partnerships.