Featured Municipal Bond in the Market, Week of 02/13/2017: Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission $438 Million
This week’s featured bond comes from the State of Pennsylvania. The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission is issuing revenue bonds in the amount of $438 million the week of February 13, 2017. These bridge system revenue bonds are scheduled to be issued as a single tax-exempt series. The purposes and uses of the bond proceeds are primarily to fund a portion of the Scudder Falls Bridge Replacement Project. The Preliminary Official Statement of these bridge system revenue bonds provides some of the following provisions of the Project:
- Demolition of the existing Scudder Falls Bridge and construction of a new bridge
- Related road widening and other improvements in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania
- Reconfiguration of interchanges and construction of noise walls in both states
- construction of a pedestrian/bicycle pathway
The bonds are limited obligations, to be paid from net revenues. The Commission does not have taxing power. Further details on the purposes, project, security, and other matters pertaining to these bridge system revenue bonds can the found in the preliminary official statement, provided by MuniOS.
The Scudder Falls Bridge is located in the Trenton, NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of December 2016, the Trenton MSA had a unemployment rate of 3.5%, which is 1.3% lower than one year ago, and 1.2% lower than the national rate.
Provided at left is a quick snapshot of financial characteristics of the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission, as of 12/31/2015, along with the medians for other toll institutions for 2014-2015, courtesy of Merritt Research Services, LLC. Merritt has many of the sector medians publicly available and regularly updated on their Benchmark Central page. (Merritt believes the data to be reliable but does not make any representations as to its accuracy or completeness). In addition to the Merritt information related to the featured bond, more information can be found on our municipal bond calendar, city, state, and county pages, and our employment database. These facts and numbers are for informational purposes, and should not be considered an official disclosure for potential investors. Investors should consult the official statement. None of the information provided should be construed as a recommendation by MuniNet Guide, MuniNet LLC, Merritt Research Services LLC, or any of their employees. Information and analysis is for informational purposes only.