..losing money. In the meantime, both back a proposal being pushed on Capitol Hill for an 18-month extension that would provide funding on par with current levels. “I’d like a multiyear bill, but I know that takes a lot of time to do,” Martinovich says. “An 18-month extension gives us time to do this right and gets us past the next big election cycle.”

In addition to concerns over federal funds, many state DOTs are dealing with faltering revenue. In Missouri, funds gleaned from sales taxes on vehicles were down 22% and fuel-tax revenue dipped 4.8% by early October, dropping revenue below $1 billion for the first time in several years. The state also is in the final year of a program that funneled half of a vehicle sales tax to the state road bond fund. Since it began in 2004, nearly $2 billion in projects have been completed through that funding source.

“What we’re looking at is our program going from $1.3 billion in FY2009 to $600 million in FY2010,” says Pete Rahn, director of Missouri DOT. “Within two years, we’ll be under $500 million. That puts us on a course where we will not be able to maintain the current condition of our system.”

Despite taking a hit to its capital improvement plan, Rahn says the state will be able to continue its Safe and Sound Bridge Improvement Plan, which is funded through Garvee bonds. One hundred bridges had been completed by October out of 802 targeted by the $700-million program. In May, a team called KTU Constructors was selected to replace 554 bridges under a single design-build contract. The KTU team includes Kiewit Western Company, Omaha; Traylor Bros. Inc., Evansville, Ind.; United Contractors, Great Falls, S.C.; HNTB Corp., Kansas City, Mo.; and The LPA Group, Columbia, S.C.

Other states face similar circumstances as strong multiyear construction initiatives begin to expire in the coming years. Despite major state budget deficits, California has continued to push projects, thanks to the federal stimulus and nearly $20 billion in bonds from Proposition 1B, which passed in November 2006. By October, more than $13 billion of Prop 1B money had been committed. Nearly $475 million in stimulus projects are expected to be awarded by the end of November, says Matt Rocco, a California Dept. of Transportation spokesperson. A combination of Prop 1B and stimulus funds has been put to use on the four-phase $800-million Interstate 215 widening project through downtown San Bernardino. A $172.7-million contract to the joint-venture of Skanska USA Civil West, Riverside, Calif., and Steve P. Rados Inc., Santa Ana, Calif., to build Phase 3 includes $128 million in stimulus funds.

After delivering 334 projects valued at $3.7 billion in 2008, the state this year is on track to complete 329 projects for $3.5 billion. Rocco says the funding picture gets fuzzy after that. “We’re heading for a post-stimulus, post-Prop 1B world,” he says. “I couldn’t say where that leaves us.”

Since 2003, Washington state has benefited from a 10-year program that adds revenue gained from a fuel tax to specific projects statewide. At $5.8 billion, The Washington Dept. of Transportation’s 2009-2011 program is the largest in its history. Megaprojects include the $2.4-billion Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement in Seattle; major work will begin at the south section in 2010. Also in the plan is the $4.6-billion State Route 520 Bridge replacement, scheduled to begin next year, and the $595-million I-90/Snoqualmie Pass East project, which broke ground in August.

The program now is at a peak, but a drop in available funding could be precipitous. WSDOT estimates that its 2015-17 program will be at roughly half of current funding levels, and the 2017-19 program is forecast to dip below $1 billion.

Pennsylvania was one of the top recipients of stimulus funds for transportation with $1.026 billion appropriated, but Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Allen D. Biehler says even at those levels the amount still is a band-aid. The state classifies roughly 6,800 miles out of its 40,000 miles as being in poor condition and around 5,900 of 25,000 bridges are structurally deficient. “It’s been like Mount Everest to get that number under control,” he says.

The state still faces considerable challenges. Biehler says the Pennsylvania’s current transportation budget is dedicated almost entirely to maintenance, with just 5% going to capacity needs. In 2007, the state Legislature passed Act 44, which provided $900 million for highway and transit needs this year. The program is scheduled to increase by 2.5% over the next four to six years, but only if the U.S. Dept. of Transportation approves a plan for the state to toll Interstate 80. That application was denied in 2008, and Biehler says without tolling, Act 44 funds will drop to $450 million.

“Between the state situation and the uncertainty of the reauthorization we’re in the same position as a lot of states of not knowing what tomorrow looks like,” he says. “We’re trying to be optimistic that something will happen, but we just don’t know.”