Economy

The California Assembly approved a bill on Monday aimed at expediting Los Angeles County transportation projects.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is adding parking to his efforts to create a legacy impact on transportation.

Fitch Ratings last week downgraded the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority’s rating to A from A-plus.

Ascension Parish, La., may ask voters in November to approve an increase in the parish sales tax to support $80 million of revenue bonds for road projects.

A takeover of bankrupt American Airlines by US Airways could bruise some airport credits, with the risks most acute for their hub facilities, Moody's Investors Service warned in a special commentary released Wednesday.

DALLAS — Austin taxpayers would be asked to back $275 million of general obligation bonds to get an urban rail system started under a proposal before the City Council.

At its meeting on Wednesday the board of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York approved approximately $3.9 billion in financings for higher education and health care institutions.

As Indiana spends down $3.8 billion generated by its 2006 lease of the Indiana Toll Road, the state has a series of new public-private partnerships in the pipeline that underscore its continued reliance on the technique to provide financing for transportation infrastructure projects.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority is expected to issue $141 million of revenue bonds on Wednesday to refund its Series 2004C-1 bonds.

CHICAGO — The Ohio Department of Transportation is taking bids from firms interested in advertising at its Interstate rest stops and welcome areas to help raise funds to whittle down a $1.6 billion budget hole that officials say will delay projects for years.

WASHINGTON — Two top experts and staff officials at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials plan to retire on Feb. 1 next year.

WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is urging lawmakers to include in a final highway bill temporary relief from the alternative minimum tax for private-activity bonds and provisions that keep TIFIA loans from being subordinated to other debt in municipal bankruptcies.

The estimated cost of the East Side Access for New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has risen by another $1 billion and the completion date pushed back three years — at least.

Standard & Poor’s raised its rating on the Philadelphia Parking Authority’s airport parking revenue bonds to A from A-minus. The outlook is stable.

The triple-A bond ratings Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s assigned to the Massachusetts’ accelerated bridge program’s recent $419 million bond sale saved an estimated $23.5 million in overall borrowing costs, according to state officials.

CHICAGO — Nearly half of nonprofit hospitals expect capital spending to rise over the next five years, driven primarily by a need to invest in information technology, according to a new survey from Fitch Ratings.

In American ports, the expansion of the Panama Canal is the elephant in the room. East Coast and southern U.S. ports see the Panamanian expansion, allowing it to handle larger ships by the middle of the decade, as their chance to woo business away from the Port of Los Angeles.

The Nevada Treasurer’s Office completed a $70 million highway revenue refunding bond sale that will result in savings of about $6 million in its existing debt service payments, deputy chief debt manager Lori Chatwood said in a news release.

DALLAS — An Austin bond committee that has recommended $575 million for the November ballot is providing an alternative that will leave room for an urban rail project long championed by re-elected Mayor Lee Leffingwell.

A report requested by lawmakers on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority supports its financial projections for the Metrorail extension to Dulles Airport, but raises concerns about MWAA's transparency, conflicts of interest and contracting practices.