Transportation industry

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.

New York's Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, a credit of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is gearing up to sell $1 billion of revenue bonds tomorrow to help support capital projects on the system's bridges and tunnels.

Now that New Jersey's fiscal 2009 budget is signed, sealed, and delivered, attention in the Garden State turns once again to financing transportation infrastructure as two senators this week proposed allowing a private company to manage certain lanes on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Pennsylvania will issue roughly $1.2 billion of general obligation and state appropriation debt in fiscal 2009 after Gov. Edward Rendell signed off on nearly $3 billion of borrowing to be issued over the next three to five years.

DALLAS - After winning a positive response from the market with a $125 million deal last month, the North Texas Tollway Authority is ready to continue its record year in debt issuance by pricing $1 billion of second-tier revenue bonds this week.

High gas prices are keeping motorists off Oklahoma’s highways, causing a dip in gasoline tax revenues at a time when construction costs are increasing rapidly.

Congress last week passed stopgap legislation that would extend through Sept. 30 funding for the Federal Aviation Administration that includes grants to airports for improvement projects. The bill was approved after lawmakers removed provisions that would have added $8 billion to the Highway Trust Fund.

DALLAS - The Oklahoma Department of Transportation will complete the first phase of a $500 million debt program with a $100 million negotiated sale in early fall.

CHICAGO - Merrill Lynch & Co. has scooped up nearly 30 public finance bankers from the ranks of the now-shuttered municipal group at UBS Securities LLC - taking advantage of a "once-in-a-decade opportunity" as its Wall Street neighbors shed staff to cope with subprime market-related losses, the firm's municipal chairman said.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Florida Department of Transportation is starting a new search for a concessionaire to become the first to lease an existing toll road in the state.

WASHINGTON - Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine's transportation plan died in the legislature yesterday after the House Rule Committee refused to let it come before the full House.

SAN FRANCISCO - Facing rising interest costs triggered by downgrades to Ambac Assurance Corp., the Orange County Transportation Authority is moving forward with plans to refinance toll revenue bonds it issued in 2003 to acquire toll lanes on the State Route 91 freeway from private owners.

DALLAS - With the airline industry in turmoil, Denver continued to restructure its variable-rate debt with $85 million of revenue bonds for Denver International Airport yesterday.