Infrastructure and Project Finance
Moody's Ratings
expenses level also pressures the liquidity profile of the issuer. The current liquidity level is below its historical average of about $700 million, translating into about 1,000 DCOH from 2015 through 2019. Depending on the Key Bridge's replacement project's funding timing, liquidity could be negatively impacted if MDTA needs to tap into its balance to bridge a part of this project's costs. Debt and Other Liabilities The authority’s total debt outstanding was $2.11 billion in fiscal 2024, resulting in a low leverage as measured by adjusted debt to operating revenues of 3.12x. MDTA’s capital expenditure program through the next six year period (2025-2030) is expected to be approximately $5.1 billion, which includes the $1.7 billion Key Bridge replacement project to be funded with insurance and federal funds. The authority anticipates cash funding (pay-go) approximately 28% of capital expenditure expenses and funding the remaining portion through the various debt financings, totaling $2 billion of additional debt. The implementation of the 2025-2030 capital expenditure program and its funding through debt and liquidity result in narrower financial metrics going forward and they could be further pressured if there are any changes to the Key Bridge's replacement project, adding risk to future performance. Besides the Key Bridge replacement project, the authority’s capital expenditure program incorporates high system preservation costs given the age of some of the system’s assets. The authority will also continue several significant projects as part of the capital expenditure program including the extension of the northbound I-95 Express Toll Lanes, even though there is a substantial part of the work already completed, with the latest being the extension to MD152 that opened in December 2024. DEBT STRUCTURE As shown in the exhibit below, the debt service schedule of the authority remains relatively flat before declining in 2041. Going forward, the authority expects to significantly increase leverage through approximately $2.0 billion of debt financing for its capital expenditure program, which will increase the debt service level.
Exhibit 4 Current debt service profile
100M 120M 140M
0 20M 40M 60M 80M
2025
2030
2035
2040
2045
2050
Source: Maryland Transportation Authority
DEBT-RELATED DERIVATIVES None. PENSIONS AND OPEB
MDTA reported a net pension liability of $277 million in fiscal 2024, compared to Moody’s adjusted net pension liability (ANPL) of about $553 million. Moody's adjusts the reported pension liabilities of entities that report under governmental accounting standards, to enhance comparability across rated issuers. Under governmental pension accounting, liabilities are discounted using an assumed rate of investment return on plan assets. Under our adjustments, we value liabilities using a market based discount rate for high quality taxable bonds, a proxy for the risk of pension benefits.
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22 May 2025
Maryland Trans. Auth. - Trans. Facilities: Update to credit analysis
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