Chesapeake bay bridge tunnel6/21/2023 With the turnaround, the bonds have become a more marketable commodity and better investment. The Series C bonds mature in the year 2000, and the system hopes to redeem them by then, Brookshire said. Of the Series B bonds, approximately $20 million worth have not yet been repurchased. About $45.77 million of the Series A Bonds and $20 million of the Series B remain outstanding. In 1970, the system also began to redeem those bonds. The system was obligated to pay interest coupons first on the lower-rate bonds, and it never missed an installment on those. In addition to the Series C bonds, which accounted for half of the issue, there was $70 million in Series A bonds paying 4 7/8 percent interest, and $30 million in Series B bonds paying 5.5 percent, all tax free. The bonds, which totaled $200 million, were sold in 1960, when prospects for the system appeared bright. "If we make four, at the beginning of the next year we would be behind two." "We hope to make four payments this year again," said Brookshire, who is executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel District. Last year, it made four payments and is now only four payments in arrears. In 1980, 19, with the help of two toll increases, the system began to catch up, making three annual payments a year. For three years, the system managed two payments each year. At its worst point, the system was 4 1/2 years, or nine payments, behind on the interest it owed. In July 1970, with traffic far below projections and toll revenue inadequate, the system-20 miles from toll plaza to toll plaza and 17.6 miles from shore to shore-defaulted when it failed to make an interest payment on its Series C bonds. But in the late 1960s, a series of miscalculations and disasters-including three ship accidents that knocked the bridge out of service-took a heavy toll on the road. "It's kind of nice to look ahead," he said, "and see the day that we'll be back even."Īn engineering marvel envisioned as a major commercial and vacation route crossing the mouth of the Atlantic to link Virginia's Eastern Shore to Norfolk and points south, the roadway opened with fanfare in 1964. Brookshire Jr., the man who oversees the bridge's operations, has high hopes for a profitable future. Since then the system has been steadily paying back interest, and now James K. At one point, the bonds-bearing an interest rate of 5 3/4 percent-traded for as little as $17 to $20 for $100 of value.īut in 1977, the light began to glimmer softly at the end of the tunnel. When $100 million worth of bonds for the 20-mile system of bridges and tunnels went into default in the early '70s, it became the biggest money-losing bond project of modern times-a dubious distinction since being eclipsed by other defaults, including the new $2.25 billion champion, WPPSS. ![]() ![]() Perhaps investors holding Washington Public Power Supply System bonds should take heart from the tale of turnaround of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |