North Dakota transportation officials are divvying up half of the federal stimulus dollars directed to transportation work this year and saving the rest for the next, in light of an uncertain economy and pending reauthorization of the federal highway bill this fall.

The state received $170 million in stimulus funds for road work and repair earlier this year after Congress approved the massive $787 billion stimulus package in February.

So far, about 54 percent, or about $92 million, of those funds have been obligated to projects around North Dakota and the remaining $78 million will be committed by February 2010, said Scott Zainhofsky, a planning and programming engineer for the North Dakota Department of Transportation.

"Because our economy is in fairly good shape, we didn't want to have a huge bubble of projects this year and then go back down to who knows how much next year," Zainhofsky said.

A large portion of North Dakota's share of transportation stimulus dollars, about $59 million, was required by the federal government to be doled out to projects by June 29.

And while Congress tackles health care reform this summer, the question remains whether or not lawmakers will reauthorize the Highway Trust Fund by September or vote to pump enough money into it to keep it solvent for another 18 months.

That leaves some uncertainty in North Dakota, which gave transportation officials reason to set aside some stimulus money, Zainhofsky said.

"So we really at this point have no idea how much money we're getting next year," he said.

Right now, the health care reform debate is the 800-pound gorilla in the room while the highway reauthorization is a 100-pounder, but still important, said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

"There's just been no discussion yet about what the options are, so much of the focus has been on health care," Conrad said.

The U.S. House is already moving forward on a $450 billion bill to keep the Highway Trust Fund going for another six years, but Conrad said that bill isn't fully paid for yet. The most recent reauthorization of the highway trust fund came in 2005 when Congress approved $286 billion for it.

The fund has been plagued by the growing problem of rising costs for construction materials and a drop in demand for gasoline, which sends 18.4 cents per gallon to support the trust fund.

If those trends continue, that could mean a funding gap of more than $100 billion for the next highway funding bill, Conrad said.

The Highway Trust Fund will require a short term fix this year and next, possibly resulting in a general fund transfer as high as $17 billion to keep it afloat, Conrad said. Congress pumped $8 billion into the fund late last year.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told senators last month that a bailout of the trust fund could reach as high as $20 billion, according to various press reports.

Meanwhile, some states have nearly exhausted their share of the transportation stimulus dollars while others are still holding on to theirs. As of June, Maine had spent 100 percent of its $131 million in stimulus funding for transportation projects while Nevada doled out just 35 percent of its $201 million, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Twelve other states have obligated less than half of their stimulus dollars, too.

Gov. John Hoeven also signed into law at the end of the 2009 Legislature a $1.35 billion NDDOT funding bill that includes an increase in funding for damaged roads and bridges in wake of the spring flooding and snowfall.

(Reach reporter Brian Duggan at 223-8482 or brian.duggan@;bismarcktribune.com.)