Transportation industry

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick last week proposed increasing the state's gas tax by 19 cents per gallon and reorganizing its transportation bureaucracy.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Florida Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday proposed a $66.5 billion budget for fiscal 2010 that includes $2.5 billion of debt.

DALLAS - The North Texas Tollway Authority said yesterday that it had restated its 2008 financial statement to correct a $105.5 million accounting error.

States and localities that adhere to prevailing wage standards and that have projects that can be built with American materials could be better positioned to receive stimulus funding for infrastructure projects, although it may take several months for stimulus funds to trickle down to local levels, sources said this week.

DALLAS - The Louisiana State Bond Commission delayed a decision yesterday on a planned May sale of $685 million of gasoline and fuel tax bonds after transportation department officials asked for more time to negotiate a financing plan for the bonds.

Louisiana highway officials told a state legislative subcommittee last week that the bond-financed John J. Audubon Bridge over the Mississippi River should open in November.

The Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority said Tuesday that dwindling toll revenues will require an increase in tolls to protect the agency’s bond rating, according to a local report by WFTV.

DALLAS - A powerful Texas lawmaker who steered milestone transportation legislation through the 2007 session has introduced a bill that would allow counties to raise fuel taxes and fees to bond for rail and road construction.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority faces a $165 million deficit for fiscal 2010, which begins July 1, as debt service costs for the transit agency will increase by $77 million to $445 million.

WASHINGTON - The $787 billion stimulus package signed into law by President Obama yesterday may spur smaller issuers to increase debt issuance through tax code changes, but may also limit the debt that is sold for transportation, water and wastewater, and other infrastructure projects in the near term because of the new federal funds provided for them.

Survey results issued this week by transportation firm HNTB Corp. spotlights misperceptions about transportation finance.

DALLAS - The Louisiana State Bond Commission will consider increasing a pending $485 million road bond issue by $200 million to pay a hefty but fluctuating swap termination fee when it meets Thursday morning.

CHICAGO - Chicago Friday banked $1.15 billion when it closed on a 75-year lease of its parking meter system - the latest in a series of private concession deals involving city assets undertaken over the last four years.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Georgia State Road and Tollway Authority today begins a two-day pricing of $600 million of federal highway grant anticipation and reimbursement revenue vehicle bonds.

Work on San Antonio International Airport’s $525 million expansion program will slow down due to fewer passengers than expected at the facility.

Gov. Butch Otter says some higher taxes will be needed to fund improvements to Idaho’s highway system.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Municipal bond issuance in the Southeast last year took the largest tumble of any region in the country. Volume fell in all four quarters of 2008 as the credit crunch worsened and - as one financial adviser put it - the rules kept changing.

SAN FRANCISCO - San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and officials from across San Diego County late Monday announced a $4 billion plan to renovate Lindbergh Field, the city's main commercial airport.

CHICAGO - A flood of refundings by Midwestern issuers looking to shed auction-rate securities and variable-rate bonds backed by downgraded insurers in the second quarter of 2008 couldn't compensate for a steep fourth-quarter drop-off in borrowing amid the economic and market turmoil of last fall.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee begins consideration today of a multiyear Federal Aviation Administration bill that would authorize $16.2 billion for bond-related airport grants.