Kansas’ already financially strained highway funding could be cut further, as the state’s budget woes worsen. On Jan. 24, Kansas Secretary of Transportation Richard Carlson projected that, in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2017, the transportation agency will spend $44 million on resurfacing and road-preservation projects. By comparison, during the first five years of the state’s 10-year T-Works program, enacted in 2010, the agency spent an average of $366 million annually on resurfacing and preservation projects. The cuts stem from the continued diversion of highway funds to balance the state’s budget, which has been depleted in recent years by tax cuts aimed at stimulating the economy. Despite some isolated growth, the state’s overall revenue so far has failed to meet expectations, setting the stage for a projected FY18 budget shortfall of $582.6 million. Transportation advocates have suggested increasing the gas tax, but no formal proposals have been brought before the Kansas Legislature.