Economy

Construction of a bond-funded bridge project between Detroit and Canada that could cost as much as $4 billion advanced Wednesday when Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Canadian officials announced appointments to a pair of new authorities that will oversee construction and financing of the span.

Maryland asks four consortiums for proposals to build and finance $2.4 billion Purple Line commuter rail project.

San Antonio and Bexar County officials have reversed course and called for a voter referendum on a $280 million streetcar project.

The Senate adopted legislation that would provide a five-month, $8 billion bailout of the Highway Trust Fund that extends the fund's solvency through mid-December.

Highway construction project awards slacken in 2014 as states gird for possible delays, cuts in federal transportation spending.

Standard & Poor's lowered its long-term rating to A from AA-minus on bonds issued for Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp., Tenn., citing losses.

The Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport is heading to market next week with $107 million of airport revenue bonds, hoping it doesn't take too much of a beating for carrying what is one of the most tainted names in the municipal bond world.

New York's MTA proposed a $14.2 billion fiscal 2015 budget and four-year financial plan that assumes an average annual increase of $260 million to labor costs stemming from two settlements.

Trains are now carrying passengers on the first segment of Washington rail system extension funded with $3 billion of federal loans and toll revenue bonds.

The finance committee of New York's MTA approved a motion to issue special obligation taxable refunding bonds that would fully pay defeased bonds at their early redemption rate and could save the authority $32 million.

With no debt on its books, Salt Lake City International Airport has broken ground on a $1.8 billion redevelopment that will not require a bond issue until 2016 at the earliest, officials said.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded the ratings on Wake Forest Baptist and North Carolina Baptist Hospital bonds to A2 from A1.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey board of commissioners has elected John Degnan as its new chairman.

The Chicago Infrastructure Trust hopes to launch a competitive selection process this fall for private partners in its third energy retrofit project – city outdoor lighting upgrades.

A court of appeals upheld a proposed route connecting the San Francisco Bay Area to the Central Valley for California's $68 billion high speed rail project.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority's capital funding gap may exceed $12 billion, according to a report by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

Despite ongoing federal court battles over the fate of the nation's health insurance system, Utah's Intermountain Healthcare Services found a receptive muni market when it priced $158 million of tax-exempt bonds July 22, officials said.

The Connecticut Bond Commission is expected to approve $3 million to fund short-term fixes to the 118-year-old Walk Bridge in Norwalk, said Gov. Dannel Malloy.

Busy Atlanta International Airport won the 2014 Global Efficiency Excellence Award from the Air Transport Research Society.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law Tuesday a $1.1 billion bond-financed transportation package.