Transportation industry

CHICAGO - Under pressure to act soon, the financially strapped St. Louis Metro transit agency is weighing how best to restructure $100 million of insured floating-rate bonds from a 2002 issue, a task complicated by increased liquidity costs and possible swap termination payments.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority is gearing up to address its problematic auction-rate securities with a $225 million bond sale set to price this month that will refinance some of the debt into variable-rate mode. It also hopes to sell $275 million of notes to buy back more of its $800 million of outstanding ARS.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit has named former Irving municipal finance manager David Leininger as its new chief financial officer. Leininger will supervise all financial activities, including budgeting, financial planning, federal funding, accounts payable, and general accounting.

Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. and legislative leaders hope to ease Colorado’s transportation funding crisis with a program dubbed FASTER, for Funding Advancement for Surface Transportation Economic Recovery.

DALLAS - New Orleans' recovery director said yesterday that bond-financed projects in the city are viable despite sluggish sales of Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds dedicated to economic restoration efforts.

WASHINGTON - House appropriations and tax committees yesterday described several municipal bond initiatives among the $550 billion of spending provisions and $275 billion of targeted tax cuts to be included in economic stimulus legislation, which lawmakers hope to take up beginning next week.

The Florida Department of Transportation has postponed the date that bids are due for the potential leasing of Alligator Alley, an existing toll road in South Florida.

Massachusetts Senate leaders yesterday released their proposal to reform the state's transportation system with the goal of bringing efficiency and cost-savings to roadways, bridges, and mass transit operations.

Chicago’s $2.5 billion lease of Midway Airport is no longer on track to win federal approval before the change in presidential administrations, as Federal Aviation Administration officials await additional financial information from the private operators that won the lease.

Chicago O’Hare International Airport officials said last week an appellate court ruling that halted the demolition of some suburban properties will negatively affect the cost and timing of an $8 billion expansion project.

Minnesota Metropolitan Airports Commission board members last week asked the agency’s staff to renegotiate some terms of a proposed agreement that would allow Delta Air Lines Inc. to close its local Northwest Airlines Corp. headquarters without triggering repayment of $245 million of debt.

It may be a new year, but problems with derivatives continue to plague the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority after officials spent all of 2008 tackling its costly swap agreements.

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell warned yesterday that the national infrastructure reinvestment bank is in danger of being tabled as an option for states and localities to finance projects.

DALLAS - Louisiana legislators on Friday approved without changes the $341 million of current-year budget cuts proposed by Gov. Bobby Jindal to deal with declines in state revenue resulting from steep drops in energy prices.

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department said it hopes to obtain almost $400 million for projects from the proposed federal infrastructure stimulus program.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is facing a $176 million gap in its $1.7 billion fiscal 2010 budget that will likely force service cuts and the elimination of 891 jobs, but WMATA officials said they will not increase fares.

WASHINGTON - House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Jim Oberstar has proposed a spending package totaling $85 billion to be included in forthcoming stimulus or economic recovery legislation.

WASHINGTON - The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has received final approval and a promise of $900 million of funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation for its $5.2 billion Dulles Metrorail extension project, which will be financed with $2 billion of bonds beginning in April.

Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine on Monday appointed deputy secretary of transportation Barbara Reese as deputy policy director for his office.

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority said Monday that its fiscal crisis has worsened since it took measures to deal with a $60 million budget shortfall in mid-December.