Transportation industry

Fitch Ratings on Wednesday downgraded to junk $792 million of bonds issued in 1997 by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to build a terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Lawmakers will go back to the drawing board for a multi-year transportation bill when Republicans take over leadership of the House in January, but market participants think such a bill may have a chance of squeezing through a divided Congress next year.

DALLAS — Southwest Airlines, which after its launch in 1971 built its entire business plan around Love Field, will issue $310 million of revenue bonds to expand operations at the historic Dallas airport.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Two years after voters north of San Francisco approved a sales tax to finance a new commuter rail line, the start of construction is in sight and the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit District prepares for its first bond issue.

The transportation market seems to be stabilizing, Fitch Ratings analysts said at a conference in New York City last week, before the agency publishes its 2011 outlooks for the sector.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Atlanta this week will bring to market nearly $600 million of bonds for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the facility’s first long-term fixed-rate financing in six years.

New Hampshire Thursday will enter the market with its ­first-ever Garvee sale, a $77.1 million deal that includes $60 ­million of taxable recovery zone economic development bonds.

CHICAGO — The Ohio Turnpike Commission will refund $130.3 million of bonds Monday to achieve savings of nearly $10 million over the life of the debt.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing the New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s $1.37 billion of Series 2009F Build America Bonds in a routine examination.

New Jersey Gov. Chris ­Christie Wednesday ended an $8.7 billion mass-transit tunnel project and rejected U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood’s financing suggestions that would have addressed potential cost overruns on the nation’s largest public transportation project.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved bridge and tunnel toll hikes that will yield an additional 7.5% of revenue at its monthly board meeting Wednesday.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Like other cities ­dealing with congestion, Atlanta has been searching for ways to move people around downtown without building new roads or ­adding more vehicles.

DALLAS — A transportation coalition is seeking legislative sponsors for Louisiana state constitutional amendments that would raise the gasoline tax and establish a $3 billion bond program for highway efforts.

Voters will be asked Tuesday to give the Georgia Department of Transportation the flexibility to enter into multi-year construction agreements.

WASHINGTON — California and Florida are the biggest winners of high-speed rail grants, securing $1.7 billion out of a total of $2.5 billion to help close ­funding gaps for ambitious rail projects that have already received large federal grants.

Pittsburgh’s City Council Tuesday approved a $220 million Pittsburgh Parking Authority bond deal that aims to prevent a state takeover of the city’s pension system.

SAN FRANCISCO — The syndicate picked to design, build, finance, operate and maintain California’s first public-private partnership, the Presidio Parkway project, plans to partly fund the link to the Golden Gate Bridge with $150 million of private-activity bonds.

DALLAS — Fitch Ratings downgraded Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to A-plus from AA-minus as it prepares to issue $301 million for its $2.7 billion terminal renovation program.

Kathy Klevorn, the director of management, planning, and budget at the Metro transit agency, is serving as interim chief financial officer following the retirement of longtime CFO John Noce.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority expects to sell $280 million of tax-exempt bonds Tuesday.