Economy

Over the past three years, 38 of Michigan’s counties have returned their roads to gravel because they lacked the money needed to maintain their paved infrastructure — and this year nearly half of the state’s counties will be faced with making the same decision, the County Road Association of Michigan warned last week.

Two rating agencies have revised Provena Health’s outlook to stable from negative ahead of its $126 million debt restructuring that took place on Monday.

New York Gov. David Paterson wants to increase the level of taxation on New York City businesses to support the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the according to a press release yesterday.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center next week will issue $720 million of tax-exempt revenue bonds, part of the health care provider’s $1.1 billion debt refinancing plan.

WASHINGTON — South Carolina lawmakers last Wednesday voted against legislation that would have paved the way for restructuring more than $200 million of tax-exempt bonds issued by the Southern Connector 2000 Association for a 16-mile toll road in Greenville, which went into default on Jan. 1.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Federal Railroad Administration is currently evaluating options states could use to build high-speed rail, including ways to encourage multi-state projects, deputy administrator Karen Rae said in an interview yesterday.

Policymakers should allocate 25% of all federal transportation funding to competitive programs across all modes of travel as they consider overhauling federal laws, according to a recent report by the nonprofit Bipartisan Policy Center’s National Transportation Policy Project.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats yesterday said they plan on Monday to take up the first of a series of jobs bills, which will include expansion of the Build America Bonds and TIGER grant programs, an extension of the transportation law, and transportation and water infrastructure funding.

SAN FRANCISCO — Despite this week’s downgrade of the rail corridor that connects them to the nation, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are beginning to show signs of growth again, adding to evidence that the Great Recession is easing, analysts, economist and port officials say.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The new bi-state authority created by Kentucky and Indiana to develop a $4.1 billion finance plan to build new bridges over the Ohio River met for the first time Tuesday in an organizational session.

Moody’s Investors Service yesterday downgraded the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s revenue bonds to A3 with stable outlook from A2 with negative outlook.

Senate Democrats plan to unveil a “jobs agenda” as early as this morning that would extend surface transportation programs for a year, expand the Build America Bonds program, and augment the popular TIGER discretionary transportation grant program.

SAN FRANCISCO — Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority’s senior and subordinate debt yesterday, citing declines in trade volumes at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex.

A Newark, N.J., bankruptcy court Tuesday approved St. Mary’s Hospital’s reorganization plan, a move that will now require New Jersey to pay $1.5 million per year through 2027 to help meet debt service payments on state contract bonds sold on behalf of the health care provider.

CHICAGO — The Indianapolis Local Public Improvement Bond Bank will enter the market today with about $200 million of bonds, in the first of two borrowings that will finance construction of a new, $754 million safety-net hospital for ­Marion County.

AUSTIN — The $1.3 billion effort to replace Dallas County’s public hospital was able to get off the ground with the use of Build America Bonds, which reduced the debt service burden on county taxpayers.

Municipal infrastructure market participants believe that insufficient funding and the politicization of infrastructure are worse impediments to investments than corruption, earmark abuses, public policy instability, or poor creditworthiness of public authorities, according to a recent survey by KPMG LLP.

The state would privatize the Ohio Lottery and the Ohio Turnpike and use the money to fund a college scholarship program under a bill introduced last week by Sen. Kevin Coughlin.

A plan to build a new hospital advanced last week when the Merrick County Board of Supervisors approved a plan by Litzenberg Memorial County Hospital to build a new $25 million facility and a $9 million long-term care facility.

The Michigan Department of Transportation last week put out a request for proposals seeking construction bids from companies interested in work on a new, $1.8 billion, bond-financed bridge across the Detroit River. The deadline for responses is March 17.