Transportation industry

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority will go to market on Wednesday with a $250 million sale of Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority bonds after Moody's Investors Service downgraded the TBTA's bonds last week.

Backers of alternatives to traditional highway financing are ramping up efforts to win over policy makers and a skeptical public, as the groundswell against tolling remains strong and lawmakers labor to save the rapidly diminishing Highway Trust Fund.

Clark County, Nev.'s McCarran International Airport on Wednesday night received a downgrade from Moody’s Investors Service to A1 from Aa3 on about $3 billion of its $4.5 billion of debt just as it prepares to market $365 million in three series on May 30.

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.

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.

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.