Transportation industry

Fitch Ratings last week upgraded the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority to AA from A-plus, affecting $327 million of outstanding debt.

The Delaware River Port Authority on Thursday announced a hiring freeze and said it will cut next year’s budget by 2%, or $2.6 million, to reduce the bi-state agency’s spending.

The New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority on Thursday approved a $1.4 billion new-money and refinancing deal that will most likely include taxable Build America Bonds.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has delayed for a month oral presentations in the selection of underwriters and swap counterparties, the agency confirmed Wednesday.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Atlanta announced a lease agreement with airlines Tuesday that should enable the city to move forward with a long-awaited financing for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

DALLAS — Less than two months after a record $1.5 billion deal, the Texas Transportation Commission is preparing another $1 billion issue of general obligation bonds.

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania agree that the state needs a long-term transportation funding strategy, but have yet to find consensus on how the state should pay for roads, bridges, and public transit.

Public finance attorney Kenneth Lind was made partner at Nixon Peabody LLP, the firm announced Tuesday. Lind has served as bond counsel at the firm’s New York City office since leaving the state Metropolitan Transportation Authority in January 2008, where he had been acting finance director.

CHICAGO — A month after winning city and county approval to sell its water and sewer system, Indianapolis stands poised to enter into a 50-year lease of its parking meters in exchange for cash and a piece of the annual parking revenue.

The Kansas chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses said last week it was "shocked and disappointed" at a city's imposition of a transportation utility fee on property owners based on how much traffic the property generates.

CHICAGO — The last time Nebraska issued bonds to finance highway projects was the summer of 1969. But five years of falling road revenues have prompted lawmakers to give borrowing a fresh look.

CHICAGO — The St. Paul Port Authority and lawyers for a group of 876 Fund bondholders will appear at a court hearing Monday on their dispute over the fate of $51 million of outstanding bonds backed by the struggling economic development fund.

The Delaware River Port Authority last week approved additional management reforms as the agency looks to terminate $53 million of a $403 million derivative associated with its debt.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority in northwest Florida has been notified that its guaranteed investment-contract provider wants to terminate its contract, according to authority attorney Roy Andrews.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa advocated his “30/10” plan to accelerate transit project construction at a roundtable event Tuesday he co-chaired with U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer.

New York plans to price two delayed personal income-tax bond deals totaling $1.66 billion over the next two months.

WASHINGTON — A northern Virginia county suing federal and state transportation authorities over certain environmental exemptions for planned high-occupancy toll lanes on two interstate highways has asked the court to add another federal official as a defendant.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced Monday that three finalists are being considered to become general manager at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The Florida Rail Enterprise, a division in the state Department of Transportation, holds public information meetings next week on the first phase of the state’s high-speed rail program, from Tampa-to-Orlando, which is estimated to cost $2.6 billion.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission are in disagreement over payments the turnpike makes to PennDOT under Act 44.