Transportation industry

CHICAGO - The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission voted last week to drop its first-of-a-kind plan to use $700 million of private-activity bonds under a federal pilot program to repair 802 bridges in favor of issuing Garvee bonds after the original plan grew too expensive due to the credit crunch.

WASHINGTON - Debt service coverage on highway user revenue fund bonds should remain more than sufficient, and the ratings of those bonds should remain stable, even as gasoline prices have spiked to record highs, causing people to drive fewer miles over the past year, a Standard & Poor's report said.

New Jersey officials continue to spar over whether revenue from potential toll increases can be used to help finance a new passenger rail tunnel that will run between Newark and Manhattan.

CHICAGO - The St. Louis Metro transit agency failed to adequately control the costs of its Cross County Extension project or ensure the viability of the developers' proposed design, and issued flawed bid documents, contributing to $136 million in cost overruns on the $550 million project, according to a Missouri audit released this week.

DALLAS - A year after agreeing to the largest debt issuance in its history, the North Texas Tollway Authority is rethinking plans to expand its system amid unprecedented market turmoil.

The Miami-Dade County Budget and Finance Committee last week recommended that elected officials authorize the issuance of up to $1.9 billion of aviation revenue bonds to be sold in one or more series.

CHICAGO - While the Regional Transportation Authority's service boards in Illinois are benefiting from an increase in the sales tax rate won earlier this year, the agency warned this week that they face $190 million in additional fiscal "pressures" as they craft their 2009 budget amid rising fuel and maintenance costs, a drop in state funding, and sluggish sales tax collections.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority will not take immediate action on five swaptions involving a Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. subsidiary while, at the same time, officials continue to evaluate underwriting proposals on an $800 million refunding deal.

State and regional transportation agencies will turn increasingly to public-private partnerships as a financing mechanism for highway, bridge, and transit projects as federal grants grow less certain in the near future, and as Congress searches for stable funding for the long-term, market participants and officials said this week at a P3 conference here.

Gary Ridley, director of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, has praised Congress for providing an $8 billion solution to the solvency crisis facing the federal Highway Trust Fund.

The long-stalled Moynihan Station project in Manhattan needs to increase transportation capacity by expanding the number of tracks and platforms, New York Gov. David Paterson said last week.

WASHINGTON - Maryland Transportation Authority officials said yesterday that they plan to bring $425 million of grant anticipation revenue vehicle bonds to market in the coming weeks now that Congress and the Bush administration are moving toward enacting legislation that will transfer $8 billion of general funds to the beleaguered federal highway trust fund.

WASHINGTON - Congress yesterday passed legislation that would transfer $8 billion to the ailing highway trust fund after the federal government warned it would run out of money by the end of the month and states began cutting transportation projects, some of which relied in part on tax-exempt bonds.

The Federal Highway Administration yesterday denied the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's application to implement tolls on Interstate 80, a move that could encourage state lawmakers to consider an alternative transportation financing plan, a $12.8 billion concession agreement on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

WASHINGTON - The Maryland Transportation Authority yesterday postponed its sale of $425 million of grant anticipation revenue vehicles in what could be the first of several stalled transactions following the federal government's announcement that the federal highway trust fund is nearly depleted.

DALLAS - Kansas will tap into an authorization of $150 million of taxable bonds for aviation projects in the state with a $33 million issue to help Cessna Aircraft Co. finance the expansion of an aircraft assembly plant in Wichita.

CHICAGO - Ohio next week plans to enter the market with roughly $300 million of public infrastructure bonds backed by the state's full faith and credit as part of Gov. Ted Strickland's $1.57 billion economic stimulus plan.

New Jersey officials are moving ahead with proposed toll hikes on the state's three tolled highways while Republican lawmakers are calling for legislative hearings on the issue.

Wayne County Airport Authority officials are taking bids on naming rights for its new $431 million terminal at the Detroit Metro Airport. Officials said it is the first time an airport has sold naming rights for a terminal.

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday that he intends this week to pass a pending bill to rescue the nearly depleted highway trust fund and prevent the government from delaying payments to states, despite the successful efforts by two Republican senators to block passage of the bill Monday evening.