Standard&Poor's Ratings Services has lowered its rating to 'AA-' from 'AA' on the Kentucky Turnpike Authority's economic development road fund bonds outstanding. At the same time, Standard&Poor's assigned its 'AA-' rating to the authority's series 2016A economic development road revenue bonds (revitalization projects), issued for Kentucky. The outlook is stable. The downgrade reflects our view of escalating financial pressures tied to the state's long-term pension liability profile, as encompassed in our 'A+' issuer credit rating (ICR) on the state (please refer to our full analysis, published Feb. 22, 2016, on RatingsDirect). Kentucky's overall pension funded ratio is severely underfunded and has declined to 37% as of 2015, among the lowest in the nation. In our view,
