Transportation industry

The Honolulu city clerk said Tuesday she would not accept petitions from a campaign that is trying to place an initiative measure on the city’s November ballot to kill a planned rail transit system.

CHICAGO - Ohio is launching a new federal bond fund program under the state infrastructure bank to finance highway and transit projects, a move that comes as officials have named transportation funding a top priority for the state.

Los Angeles International Airport kept double-A ratings on its senior-lien revenue bonds from all three major credit agencies ahead of a $950 million bond sale that will more than quintuple its debt at a time when the airline industry is in a steep descent.

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Development Authority yesterday approved funding recommendations for six projects within one of the city's first tax allocation districts, the Westside TAD. The projects would be funded in part from proceeds of a new bond issue expected to total $110 million.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Bay Area Toll Authority in California plans to restructure its entire $2.4 billion portfolio of Ambac Assurance Corp.-backed variable-rate debt in the coming months, its second major debt restructuring spurred by insurer downgrades this year.

Port authorities in Georgia and South Carolina will share ownership of the Jasper Ocean Terminal site located in South Carolina under plans set for approval next week.

DALLAS — The rapidly growing South Texas town of Pharr needs to update aging infrastructure but years of financial mismanagement have led to a low investment-grade rating with a negative outlook.

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, in its mid-year status report released Tuesday, said that much of its capital improvement program has been completed.

The New York State Thruway Authority will initiate a new procedure intended to increase participation of minority-owned firms in underwriting when it goes to market with the sale of up to $1 billion of bonds next month.

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow the commonwealth to extend its financial guarantee on $2.2 billion of Massachusetts Turnpike Authority debt - a move that would allow the authority to use the state's higher credit rating yet at the same time increase its outstanding bond obligation.

CHICAGO - Cleveland is expected to issue nearly $290 million of variable-rate airport revenue bonds today in a transaction that marks the city's last major refinancing in its months-long effort to convert all of its outstanding auction-rate securities.

A DuPage County Circuit Court judge is expected to rule next week on whether Chicago can demolish about 500 properties in suburban Bensenville to clear the path for a new runway at O’Hare International Airport.

In another blow to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s plan to sell Detroit’s half of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, the City Council in Windsor, Ontario, last week instructed its top lawyer to halt negotiations after some Detroit council members said they still have doubts about the deal despite having voted in favor of establishing an operating authority.

In its push to gain federal approval to implement tolls on I-80, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission yesterday announced a proposed $2.5 billion capital plan to update 83% of the Interstate's roadway and replace 60 of its bridges over the next 10 years.

The Port of Galveston has secured a $28.1 million loan from the Texas Industry Development Loan Program for improvements that include a channel-deepening project and renovation of aging public docks.

The financial advisory firm Frasca & Associates LLC has added a banker and credit analyst to its team.

The Senate is poised to consider legislation that would extend a Texas tolling ban through September 2009. The moratorium extension was added as an amendment to transportation and housing appropriations legislation that cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has not given up hope on nearly $2.7 billion of capital projects that officials last month proposed delaying until the 2010-2015 capital plan.

The Senate Committee on Appropriations yesterday unanimously approved transportation and housing spending for fiscal 2009, including full funding for the federal highway program plus $8 billion to shore up the ailing highway trust fund.

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission last week approved a $5.8 billion, five-year construction program that officials warned will be limited to maintenance and safety work beginning late next year.