Transportation industry

CHICAGO - The push for light rail and commuter mass transit in southeast Michigan would receive a boost under a proposed bill that expands the state's tax increment financing law to include funding for transit systems.

The Louisiana Legislature approved a bill calling for a study on transferring New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong International Airport from local to state control before adjourning the 2008 regular session earlier this week.

The Mississippi Department of Transportation on Tuesday is holding a mandatory workshop in Jackson for all firms and consortiums interested in submitting qualifications to enter into the state’s first public-private partnership.

After the third day of a General Assembly special session, a bill from Gov. Timothy Kaine that would increase taxes and revive the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority’s ability to issue bonds has been bypassed by lawmakers in both the Republican-controlled House of Delegates and the Democrat-controlled Senate.

The nation should not continue to rely on gas tax revenues to finance transportation infrastructure needs because soaring gas prices will likely force consumers to drive less, resulting in less revenue coming in, Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine and U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said yesterday at a meeting here.

DALLAS - The Dallas City Council is expected today to establish a local government corporation that would issue more than $300 million of lease revenue bonds to finance a six-year terminal modernization effort at Love Field Airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration last week said it would lift flight caps at O’Hare International Airport later this year after Chicago opens the first new runway as part of a $7.5 billion expansion plan.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Georgia's State Transportation Board Thursday adopted a financial management plan to pay down an estimated $1.2 billion deficit at the Georgia Department of Transportation in order to balance the fiscal 2008 budget.

Proponents backing a sales tax increase in Sierra County to benefit New Mexico’s Spaceport America received a financial boost from Gov. Bill Richardson’s unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Another fare increase could be on its way for New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority as it grapples with falling revenue and increased costs that are pushing $2.7 billion of projects into the 2010-2015 capital plan.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Broward County, Fla., is working on a plan to refund up to $110 million of auction-rate securities and replace the debt with variable-rate demand obligations with a new, triple-A rated bond insurance policy.

CHICAGO — In its second refunding since mid-April, the Wayne County Airport Authority plans to enter the market Wednesday with roughly $330 million in variable-rate demand bonds that will take out all the authority's auction-rate debt.

WASHINGTON — Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine is hoping state lawmakers will embrace his transportation funding plan, which they will consider during a special session that begins today.

SAN FRANCISCO — Los Angeles International Airport plans to sell $950 million of revenue bonds next month in its first major new-money issue in more than a decade.

The nation's governors are urging Congress to pass legislation that would offset the huge deficit projected for the highway trust fund in fiscal 2009.

DALLAS — Gilbert, Ariz., will begin an extensive, multi-year effort to widen streets throughout the Phoenix suburb with next week's competitive sale of $188 million of general obligation bonds.

DALLAS — Bonds supported by a 4 cents-a-gallon gasoline tax will not be sufficient to complete Louisiana's $4.9 billion Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development program as gas tax revenues fail to keep up with inflated construction costs.

CHICAGO — The combined needs of struggling municipalities, financially strapped airlines, and labor could spark a national wave of interest in airport privatization if Chicago pulls off its plan to lease Midway Airport as expected, a key legal adviser on the proposal predicts.

WASHINGTON — Traffic congestion across the United States increased nearly 2% in 2007 over 2006, according to a report released yesterday by INRIX, a private company that analyzes national traffic patterns.

CHICAGO — The Indianapolis Airport Authority plans to enter the market June 25 with a $350 million variable-rate revenue bond sale that will mark the agency's last financing to pay for a $1.06 billion new project at Indianapolis International Airport.