US public finance transportation sector view for year ahead is mixed but mostly negative

S&P Global Ratings' 2021 view of business conditions and credit quality across U.S. public transportation infrastructure is negative for the airport, mass transit, parking, and toll road sectors and stable for the ports and federal grant-secured sectors, according to our annual sector outlook report published today.

The report is titled "Outlook For U.S. Not-For-Profit Transportation Infrastructure: Light At Tunnel’s End – But How Long Is The Tunnel?"

The pandemic and related economic impacts had a dramatic effect on credit quality in 2020 across the U.S. not-for-profit transportation portfolio: 109 ratings--36%--were downgraded by at least one notch and 88% retain a negative outlook," said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Kurt Forsgren.

"Looking ahead to 2021, activity levels of several transportation asset classes—such as transit, airports, and parking--are still significantly and negatively affected while others—toll roads and ports--are showing improvement or are well on their way to recovery, due to user preferences and the performance of cargo and commercial traffic," he added.

The report provides an in-depth discussion of these questions facing the transportation sectors: