Transportation industry

The Fortress Investment Group-backed Brightline now anticipates carrying 4.9 million passengers between Miami and the Orlando airport.

Gov. Tina Kotek sent a letter to transportation commissioners asking them to scrap a tolling plan for Portland-area highways that was seven years in the making.

Chicago will issue $80.865 million of Series 2024A and 2024B senior lien airport revenue refunding bonds for Midway, with a pricing date to be determined.

U.S. DOT Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg traveled to Miami-Dade County to highlight the $27 million of funding provided under the bipartisan infrastructure law to Miami International Airport's improvement projects.

Robert Poole, a leading expert in the U.S. public-private partnership transportation sector, joins infrastructure reporter Caitlin Devitt to talk about upcoming deals including toll lanes and bridges in the Southeast and high speed rail in the West as well as states that are advancing P3s and action on the federal front. (37 minutes)

Maura Healey's budget plan for fiscal 2025 features more money for the Commonwealth Transportation Fund, which would increase its bond capacity by $1.1 billion.

Fitch Ratings downgraded the private-activity bonds supporting LAX's people mover bonds to junk, but said they could fall lower if the airport doesn't reach an agreement on delay concessions.

VTA's auditor general dinged project managers for misleading communications and a "breach of transparency" regarding cost overruns and delays on the $12.2 billion San Jose extension of a Bay Area Rapid Transit line.

The governor proposed state funding for schools to slow the rise in property taxes. His Idaho Works program would provide $50 million toward $800 million in bonds to pay for water and transportation projects.

Moody's also affirmed the A1 rating on the authority's $3.2 billion of general revenue bonds and the A2 rating on the $2.5 billion of general revenue junior indebtedness obligations.

The stars are starting to align for the long-awaited bridge replacement which received a $600 million federal grant toward the project expected to cost up to $7.5 billion.

The Plan of Action for Regional Transit asks lawmakers for $1.5 billion of new operating support for transit and at least $400 million annually of complementary capital investments.

"There weren't many exemptions made to paying the fee, which should help maximize revenues and make them more predicable when considering leveraging this new revenue stream for infrastructure improvements," said Howard Cure of Evercore Wealth Management.

The Equity in Infrastructure Project, created to generate opportunities for historically underserved businesses, hit 56 pledges at a California event.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit was highlighted in the report on agencies still struggling.

Fitch Ratings did a deep dive on the nation's major airport capital programs, as projects have begun, and how they plan to fund them.

The upgrade "reflects a material improvement in the MTA's fiscal outlook, which was largely driven by New York State increasing the maximum rate of the payroll mobility tax," Fitch said.

Michael Whitaker, a career aviation executive, has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate to lead the FAA following Steve Dickson's resignation in March 2022.

KBRA upgraded the long-term rating on the state's special tax obligation transportation infrastructure purposes bonds to AAA with stable outlook from AA-plus ahead of the deal, slated for the week of Oct. 16.

The upgrade was spurred by improving ridership as well as increased financial flexibility, said S&P credit analyst Joseph Pezzimenti.