Transportation industry

BRADENTON, Fla. - In a difficult market for issuers with top ratings, let alone a new credit with a large amount of debt to sell, the North Carolina Turnpike Authority hopes to get into the bond market early in December for its first-ever issuance - a $650 million deal to finance its first project.

CHICAGO - Michigan lawmakers are expected to tackle the issue of transportation funding in their upcoming lame-duck session, mulling a slew of new revenue options ranging from reconfiguring the state's gas tax and implementing tolls on major highways to hiking the sales tax.

CHICAGO - Fresh from approving fare increases to shore up its operating budget, the Chicago Transit Authority is expected to enter the market today with $175 million of grant-backed revenue bonds to speed up spending on capital projects.

As DHL Express prepares to cut up to 9,500 jobs nationally, most of which would come from its hub in Wilmington, the company last week said it would be willing to donate its airport there to a public entity for redevelopment. The 2,200-acre DHL Air Park is currently the largest privately run airport in the county.

WASHINGTON - Almost a dozen transit agencies are pressing Senate Finance Committee leaders to severely limit what banks and other investors in leaseback deals can obtain from them as the transactions unwind because of insurer rating downgrades.

BROOMFIELD, Colo. - Budget shortfalls and lack of access to capital markets for infrastructure projects may be sparking a transition period for financing that could ultimately prove beneficial for issuers over the long term, transportation experts said yesterday.

DALLAS - When the Texas Legislature opens in January, North Texas transportation planners will seek authority to create a tax base that could extend the region's growing network of passenger rail lines beyond existing transit districts and allow for the issuance of debt.

All of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority's swaps are underwater, the authority said yesterday.

BROOMFIELD, Colo. - Transportation projects may become increasingly funded by federal loans, a new crop of fees, and taxes, while private-sector financing may also need to become more inventive, analysts and officials said at a conference here yesterday.

The Phoenix City Council has raised the customer facility charge for car rentals at Sky Harbor International Airport to $6 per day from $4.50 to generate a debt service reserve fund of $21 million for the bond-financed facility.

WASHINGTON - KBC Bank NV of Belgium and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority reached an agreement in federal court here on Friday to dissolve a leaseback deal entered in 2002, a move that could set a precedent for more than 25 transit agencies across the country with similar deals.

Three cities appealed on Friday to the Treasury Department for assistance under its $700 billion financial rescue plan authority, while airports continued their push for federal legislative help to make private-activity bonds more accessible for financing projects.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Friday approved toll hikes that will generate nearly $100 million of additional revenue for the authority to help meet operating needs and rising debt service costs.

There's no denying the importance of infrastructure. But the traditional infrastructure model has become problematic. The growing need to repair or replace aging infrastructure in transportation, utilities, telecommunications, and other sectors has soared to record levels in recent years. At the same time, the cost of building materials is skyrocketing, and local, state, and federal governments are faced with declining tax revenues and higher borrowing costs.

DALLAS - Kansas will not award approximately $200 million of anticipated highway construction contracts over the next two months due to concerns that actual and expected declines in state and federal funding impair its ability complete the work.

SAN FRANCISCO - Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski this week proposed billions of dollars in transportation spending to stimulate the economy and rebuild the state's transportation infrastructure.

SAN FRANCISCO - This month, California voters issued a mandate for a high-speed passenger train system linking the southern part of the state with the San Francisco region.

WASHINGTON - The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and a Belgian bank failed to reach an agreement yesterday that would unwind a leaseback deal in exchange for a $17 million payment from the transit agency, but the parties will return to federal court for a third day this morning to continue negotiations.

WASHINGTON - A U.S. District Court judge yesterday pressed KBC Bank NV of Belgium to accept a settlement to unwind a leaseback arrangement with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority in exchange for a $17 million payment from a trust account kept by the transit agency for lease payments on the deal.

DALLAS - The Oklahoma Department of Transportation will get back into the debt market next week with a negotiated sale of $98.3 million of grant anticipation notes after delaying the deal for a month.