Transportation industry

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.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is looking to sell more than $1 billion of tax-exempt debt next month, including a $250 million remarketing of variable-rate debt as fixed rate.

DALLAS — Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport will issue the first $301 million of revenue bonds this week toward a $2 billion renovation of the original terminals that opened 36 years ago.

The Internal Revenue Service is kicking off the first round of audits of Build America Bonds and is asking issuers if any potentially related entities, such as pension plans, are buying their BABs, according to issuers and IRS officials.

SAN FRANCISCO — California’s Bay Area Toll Authority will sell $800 million of taxable and tax-exempt debt this week to help fund massive modernization projects that include replacement of the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

New York State should contribute 20% of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s capital program, a policy think tank and an advocacy group said in a report last week.

Maine will spend $20.1 million to buy 233 miles of rail lines to retain freight-rail service in the state’s northeast sector.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will continue to mull over the fate of the nation’s largest mass-transit project instead of announcing a decision this week as expected on a $8.7 billion commuter-rail tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan.

WASHINGTON — The federal government opened its wallet to ports this week, giving them a larger-than-ever share of a $585 million competitive grant program.

CHICAGO — Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard said he would revise key terms of a proposal to lease city parking meters to a private company for 50 years amid rising criticism from members of the Indianapolis and Marion County City-County Council.