Transportation industry

Fitch Ratings this week placed its low investment-grade rating for Missouri's Lake of Ozarks Community Bridge Corp. on negative watch due to a downturn in bridge traffic this year and management's unwillingness to raise tolls.

A fight over the Federal Aviation Administration's plan to auction flight-slot leases at Newark Liberty Airport next week heated up yesterday when five airlines and a trade organization filed additional paperwork in a bid to halt the plan.

Financial woes at the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority continue to dominate board meetings as officials review dipping into reserve funds to help support basic capital maintenance on the system.

DALLAS -New Mexico's $1.6 billion highway and rail transit program named for Gov. Bill Richardson will remain on track after lawmakers in a special session last week approved an extra $200 million, the former presidential candidate said.

DALLAS - Voters in Tulsa will decide in November on a 12-year, $2 billion street maintenance program after a divided City Council narrowly put the measure onto the ballot during a heated meeting Thursday night.

Add Connecticut to the list of states looking for additional resources to finance growing infrastructure demands.

DALLAS - Texas Gov. Rick Perry and top legislative leaders yesterday urged lawmakers to allow use of state retirement and other investment funds for transportation projects and demanded immediate issuance of $1.5 billion of bonds authorized last year.

A state lawmaker has introduced a bill that would allow Montana municipalities to issue revenue bonds backed by local gas taxes to fund transportation projects.

Santa Clara County voters will decide in November whether they want to pay more property taxes to rebuild their public hospital and a higher sales tax to take the Bay Area Rapid Transit system to San Jose.

DALLAS - A key player in a transportation plan in north Texas aims to keep its inaugural rail project on track with funding from the area's Regional Transportation Council.

The Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey yesterday approved toll and fare increases on its four bridges and its PATCO mass-transit system, with those hikes to take effect on Sept. 14.

WASHINGTON - Airports and toll roads face a more uncertain future than other transportation sectors, Fitch Ratings said in a special report due out today. The agency revised its outlook for both airports and toll roads to negative from stable, and suggested the sectors may be undergoing permanent transformation.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker is expected to propose in his 2009 budget to be released next month that the county fund a study on the privatization of Mitchell International Airport.

ATLANTA -The Atlanta City Council on Monday made more progress towards bringing the historic BeltLine tax allocation district project to fruition by approving a $120 million bond deal for its development.

The Kansas City council last week decided to ask voters on the Nov. 4 general election ballot whether they support a sales tax increase to fund an $800 million starter light-rail system.

DALLAS - A convergence of economic and social trends is driving cities in the Southwest toward rail as an alternative to cars and planes, say transit experts who predict a new era in public-private partnership to finance the costly systems.

It's greenfields over brownfields as the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission last week announced that it would evaluate bringing in a private company to finance, build, and operate 50-miles of new toll roads south of Pittsburgh.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey last week released preliminary renderings for a proposed replacement for the Goethals Bridge, which connects New Jersey and Staten Island.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has waived its fees and rental payments at Stewart International Airport for six months in a bid to retain air carriers.

Subsidies to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority from New York City and New York State have remained flat since 1990, according to a report released last week by the New York City Independent Budget Office.