Economy

A Virginia Circuit Court judge has ruled that the financing mechanism of the Elizabeth River Crossings project in the southeastern part of the state is unconstitutional, calling into question the future of the multi-billion dollar public-private partnership and other Virginia P3s.

New York University's Mitchell Moss said tolling the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens borough would generate a reliable revenue stream for the debt-strapped MTA.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation is conducting new environmental studies for the $802 million Monroe Connector/Bypass toll road for which much of the debt has already been sold.

Richland County, S.C., started paying an extra penny sales tax Wednesday, which will provide $1 billion for transportation projects over the next 22 years.

Moody's Investors Service upgraded the bond rating of West Penn Allegheny Health System to Caa2 from Ca after Highmark closed on its $604 million takeover.

Fitch Ratings on Tuesday became the third agency to withdraw its rating on $131.2 million of defaulted toll-bridge bonds issued by north Florida's Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority.

New York State legislators will meet Thursday with officials of SUNY Downstate Medical Center to discuss a sustainability plan for a Brooklyn hospital that had been slated to close.

A tax overhaul in Minnesota -- with infrastructure funding for the Mayo Clinic's plan to makeover its home city and a likely income tax increase to erase a deficit and generate more funding for schools -- is headed to a conference committee.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., has introduced legislation to authorize $500 million of federal grant money for nationally or regionally important surface transportation projects.

The executive committee of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, which oversees the region's transit plans, voted last week to switch to a new funding formula that will mean the loss of significant funding for Detroit.

Highmark wasted no time taking over West Penn Allegheny Health System after regulators approved a $604 million deal that ended 18 months of turmoil and offered bondholders 87.5 cents on the dollar.

Chicago settled a legal dispute with the private operators of its parking meter system over lost revenue in an agreement that modifies the much maligned lease and could save the city as much as $1 billion over the next seven decades.

Arkansas will use federal Medicaid funds to purchase health insurance for an additional 250,000 low-income residents under a new pilot program.

A small health care district in Northern California, the Mendocino Coast Health Care District, is still slogging its way through Chapter 9 bankruptcy and hopes to exit this summer without impairing bondholders.

Austin is considering a plan to lease its airport to finance a light rail system, a move that would allow the city to bypass bonds for an inaugural 5.5-mile transit line.

Ontario, Calif., officials filed a claim on April 11 seeking to dissolve a joint powers agreement in an attempt to wrest control of its local airport away from Los Angeles World Airport.

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber said the $3.4 billion Columbia River Crossing bridge project will die if Washington lawmakers try to kill light-rail from the proposal, according to reports.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey voted Wednesday to use a public-private partnership to replace the Goethals Bridge between New York and New Jersey.

Moody's Investors Service issued a report on Wednesday that examined the local governments and school districts that rely on federal employment, procurement, Medicare reimbursement and education grants that would be most affected by sequestration.

The federal government will need to make difficult and politically divisive choices to maintain highway funding in coming years, transportation experts told members of the House Budget Committee Wednesday.