Transportation industry

Spaceports are popping up all over the U.S., as both existing airports and brand new facilities position themselves to profit from a new age of commercial space travel and transport, but the industry is still in its infancy.

Voters in unincorporated Ascension Parish, La., will vote on a 0.5% sales tax that would support $80 million of revenue bonds for road improvements.

The Louisiana will sell $350 million of state road bonds at one time rather than spreading the deal into three tranches, on the advice of Treasurer John Kennedy.

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority's new chief executive, Keith T. Parker, signed a five-year contract with a base salary of $320,000 a year.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed its AA rating and stable outlook on the Ohio Turnpike Commission ahead of an expected announcement by Gov. John Kasich of his plans to privatize the 241-mile toll road.

Miami-Dade County, Fla., this week prices the first of two deals that will bring nearly $1.5 billion of bonds to market within a month.

The Utah Transit Authority will complete financing for its 2015 rail projects and convert about half of its variable-rate bonds to fixed-rate in a $296.8 million deal next week.

The Arizona Department of Transportation said it will complete a route study for a commuter rail line linking Phoenix and Tucson.

Airports will continue to remain at risk for credit downgrades until passenger enplanements reach consistent growth of 3%, far above the flat-to-negative trajectory Moody's Investors Service expects.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey authorized a $31.5 million rehabilitation of a taxiway at Newark Liberty International Airport.

WASHINGTON — Mileage-based systems could yield revenues between three and eight times higher than the gas taxes currently used to maintain the public road system and back bonds, the Congressional Budget Office found.

Alaska voters decide on a $453 million transportation bond next month, though questions remain over a project at the Port of Anchorage that would receive $50 million in bond proceeds.

PortMiami's "Deep Dredge" harbor project will be mostly financed with bonds to ready the port for the Panama Canal expansion in early 2015. Miami-Dade County will pick up the federal costs to get the project done.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority unveiled a proposed $1.5 billion budget for 2013 that banks on $1 billion in borrowing to finance projects planned under the system's $12 billion capital program.

Spanish infrastructure investment giant Cintra will be the private partner on a more than $1 billion public-private partnership to develop the Route 460 Corridor project in southeastern Virginia, sources said.

The Texas Department of Transportation will leverage a $5.6 million federal grant to conduct a study of high-speed passenger rail along the Interstate 35 corridor between Laredo, Tex., and Oklahoma City.

Indiana plans to tap a final team to partner on its half of the $2.6 billion Ohio River bridges project by mid-November and close the deal by the end of the year, officials said.

Chicago will seek independent audits to assess the operational and financial management of its asset leases beginning with its controversial $1.15 billion 2009 parking meter concession contract.

Kentucky and Indiana agencies Tuesday are poised to approve the long-awaited master agreement for the financing and construction of the massive $2.6 billion Ohio River Bridges Project.

Indiana University expects to hire financial advisors to oversee the privatization of its parking system, a transaction modeled after Ohio State University's precedent-setting deal.