Transportation industry

The highway advocacy group Driving Louisiana Forward has launched an effort to boost state spending on road and bridge projects by at least $145 million a year.

DALLAS - Tarrant County, Tex., voters approved about $433.1 million of debt for new roads and criminal justice facilities in May 2006, but cost increases and credit market upheaval have kept most of the road projects on the shelf.

CHICAGO - Chicago would bar financial institutions from inclusion in city bond deals if they seek aid from the federal government's bailout plan but don't strictly limit executive compensation under an ordinance introduced yesterday to the City Council.

CHICAGO - As local governments across the country struggle with rising fuel costs, Indiana is launching a gasoline and diesel fuel-hedging program designed to help its municipalities offset the growing expense.

Denver International Airport lost $12 million in the first six months of the year, despite rising revenue. The airport reported a $9.2 million profit for the same period in 2007.

After two years of debate on how to finance transportation needs, voters in Hays County south of Austin will decide whether to issue $207 million of road bonds.

CHICAGO - Chicago's chief financial officer called the $2.521 billion price a private consortium will pay to operate Midway Airport for 99 years a "good value" for the city that may not get any better even if delayed until the current international fiscal crisis subsides.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick last week called for dismantling the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and merging it into another state transportation agency. Meanwhile, one MassPike board member is calling for immediate toll hikes to help boost debt service coverage on $2.4 billion of debt.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office last week found that the Federal Aviation Administration did not have the legal authority to auction flight slots. The GAO’s decision handed a victory to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which had threatened to prevent flights from landing if they used auctioned slots.

The deep freeze that the primary market has endured the last two weeks may begin to thaw a bit this week, aided by the much-anticipated news on Friday that the House approved the $700 billion financial rescue plan. But some market participants said it was too early to expect new-issue business to bounce back quickly given that the nation's economic crisis is far from over.

Pacific Ethanol Inc. Monday announced that it had launched production at its new Stockton facility.

The capital needs of airports across the country are expected to grow significantly during the next five years, the Federal Aviation Administration warned in a report issued yesterday.

Orange County supervisors will vote Tuesday to send out requests for proposals to underwriters for upcoming bond issues for John Wayne Airport.

Florida’s controversial first leasing of an existing toll road is bogged down due to the volume of questions and comments received from the six consortiums asked to submit bids, the Florida Department of Transportation said in a notice on Monday.

While a $12.8 billion long-term lease bid for the Pennsylvania Turnpike expired this week, Gov. Edward Rendell plans to revisit the issue in the next two-year legislative session.

President Bush has signed into law a short-term appropriations bill to keep the federal government in operation through March 6, and a six-month stopgap measure that will fund the Federal Aviation Administration and its airport construction grant program through the end of that month. Both laws include bond-related provisions totaling more than $8 billion.

CHICAGO - After postponing a planned bond issue this week amid ongoing market turmoil, the Wayne County Airport Authority - operator of Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport - hopes to enter a more stable market within the next few weeks with its third refunding issue in the last five months.

New York will study the potential privatization of state assets through long-term leases, Gov. David Paterson announced yesterday. Public-private partnerships could allow the state to leverage its assets to make investments in long-term infrastructure projects, the governor's office said.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority’s executive director, Brian McPartlin, announced last week he would step down later this month to take a private-sector job.

WASHINGTON - Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority officials postponed the sale of $175 million airport system revenue bonds that was scheduled to come to market today in a negotiated deal after market conditions remained uncertain yesterday.