Economy

The Tennessee Department of Transportation has identified 111 bridges across the state that will be replaced, repaired, or rehabilitated through a new initiative aimed at reducing the number of structurally deficient bridges in the state.

Fitch Ratings on Monday downgraded to AA-plus from AAA its rating on $71 million of Nemours Foundation outstanding health care revenue bonds. The rating agency said the outlook is stable.

House Transportation Committee chairman James L. Oberstar plans to bring a three-month extension of the current transportation funding law to the House for a vote today and insisted in an interview Monday that he will not support any further extensions in lieu of a new multi-year bill.

New Jersey officials yesterday broke ground on a new $247 million port facility as the South Jersey Port Corp. prepares to issue $56 million of state-appropriation debt in the next few months to help finance site preparations.

Maintaining New York's double-A range credit rating is a priority, Lieut. Gov. Richard Ravitch said hours after his appointment was ruled legal by the state's highest court yesterday.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Moody’s Investors Service late Monday downgraded the Florida Department of Transportation’s turnpike revenue bond rating to Aa3 from Aa2, citing rapid declines in traffic and revenue along the 460 miles of established toll roads operated by the Turnpike Enterprise system.

The Marion County Health and Hospital Corp. on Nov. 3 will ask voters in Indianapolis and Marion County to approve a $754 million bond proposal to finance a new facility that would replace Wishard Hospital.

CHICAGO - Moody's Investors Service yesterday downgraded the Chicago Transit Authority's $1.9 billion of debt from its 2008 pension-related issue one notch to A1, citing the compounding strains of faltering sales and real estate transaction taxes along with Illinois' liquidity problems.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, has appointed himself to the state’s Special Committee on Transportation, which will focus on finding ways to finance Kansas’ next 10-year transportation plan.

Officials in Chandler said the Phoenix suburb may need a bond program within the next five years to keep up with street upkeep expenses that are expected to almost double by 2014.

The Senate last week approved a fiscal 2010 transportation and housing appropriations bill that included more than $1 billion each for rail projects and discretionary grants. Now the Senate and House, which passed its bill in July, must meet to resolve their differences over a national infrastructure bank, high-speed rail, and community development block grants.

CHICAGO - Downtown Chicago-based Roosevelt University is planning to sell up to $210 million of new-money and refunding bonds later this year to raise funds for a new multi-use building that will include new student housing as part of its evolution from a commuter school to a residential urban campus.

DALLAS - Now that the Dallas Cowboys have launched their first season in their new $1.2 billion stadium in Arlington, the city of Irving is preparing to implode the team's old home - Texas Stadium - and use the site to stage a massive freeway reconstruction effort.

The Delaware River Port Authority last week approved the termination of a forward-starting swap with UBS Securities LLC at an estimated cost to the agency of $35 million.

The New York State Thruway Authority last week announced its selection of firms to serve as bond counsel on state-supported debt.

WASHINGTON — The House Transportation Committee is expected to vote next week on a bill to extend the current transportation authorization law before it expires at the end of the month, but still needs to bridge the large gap between its own timeline and the Senate’s before the extension can move forward.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The $1 billion Port of Miami Tunnel project inched forward Tuesday when Miami-Dade County commissioners approved an irrevocable $75 million letter of credit provided by Wachovia Bank NA to be used in helping to fund a portion of the project.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus unveiled health care reform legislation yesterday that would require bond-financed and other nonprofit 501(c)(3) hospitals to conduct regular assessments of community health needs, implement financial assistance programs, and limit how much they could bill certain patients and how far they could go to collect.

So many state and local governments are in fierce competition for $1.5 billion of discretionary grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation that it may be impossible for most of them to receive funding.

CHICAGO - Michigan could partner with private companies to build or operate its highways and bridges to boost badly needed transportation revenue under a bill being considered by the Legislature.