Economy

Austin voters won’t see a proposal to authorize $275 million of general obligation bonds for a light-rail system on the November ballot, Mayor Lee Leffingwell said last week.

CHICAGO – The Chicago Transit Authority Friday unveiled plans for a $500 million overhaul of its bus fleet by 2014.

The board of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has added TD Securities to its approved pool of variable-rate remarketing agents and dealers, after the MTA’s finance committee signed off on the move.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley Thursday selected 105 road and bridge improvement projects for the first round of funding in the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program, or ATRIP.

CHICAGO — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is reportedly close to reaching a final agreement with Canada on a long-stalled $4 billion trade bridge spanning the Detroit River at the nation’s busiest trade route.

WASHINGTON — Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels made the rounds in the nation’s capitol Thursday, urging lawmakers to pass a transportation bill friendly to public-private partnerships and telling reporters that he fears there might not be a bill at all.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad this week signed an agreement with the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority to build the long-planned $1.9 billion Wekiva Parkway.

The New York State Thruway Authority, faced with refinancing $868 million of short-term debt next month and a declining debt-service coverage ratio, is taking steps toward future toll hikes.

The Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board prices the biggest deal of the week, selling $600 million of capital projects revenue bonds.

Between 3% and 8% of federal money earmarked for the highway system since 2010 has gone to waste on inactive projects, according to a new GAO Report, which cites lax federal oversight and recommends a narrower role for the FHA.

Part of a noise-mitigation plan for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport has fallen apart after the Federal Aviation Administration disapproved portions of it.

The Federal Highway Administration last week approved the location of the $1.9 billion Wekiva Parkway, a 27-mile toll road that would complete a beltway around western metropolitan Orlando.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Senate passed legislation Tuesday raising the state's cigarette tax by $1 as part of a $2.7 billion Medicaid reform package aimed at easing the program's strain on state finances.

CHICAGO — The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority is bringing $41.7 million of highly rated sales-tax-backed bonds to market Thursday.

CHICAGO — The Illinois House approved a bill Friday that raises the cigarette tax by $1 and establishes charity care standards for the state's nonprofit hospitals in order to preserve their property tax exemption.

Tulsa County, Okla., officials are considering a $340 million package intended to keep American Airlines and other aviation-related businesses at Tulsa International Airport.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority will go to market on Wednesday with a $250 million sale of Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority bonds after Moody's Investors Service downgraded the TBTA's bonds last week.

Backers of alternatives to traditional highway financing are ramping up efforts to win over policy makers and a skeptical public, as the groundswell against tolling remains strong and lawmakers labor to save the rapidly diminishing Highway Trust Fund.

CHICAGO — Michigan officials are putting the final touches on a fiscal 2013 budget that will likely mark the state’s first contribution since the early 1990s to prefund its towering retiree health care liability.

Clark County, Nev.'s McCarran International Airport on Wednesday night received a downgrade from Moody’s Investors Service to A1 from Aa3 on about $3 billion of its $4.5 billion of debt just as it prepares to market $365 million in three series on May 30.