North Dakota will get $2.08 back for every $1 paid in federal highway taxes under a $286.4 billion highway bill Congress is on the verge of passing. That ratio is better than 46 states, according to Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

The bill provides North Dakota with $1.55 billion through 2009 to be used for construction and maintenance of roads and bridges. Conrad said the bill provides a 30 percent increase in funding over the 1998-2003 highway bill.

Since the old bill expired, Congress has had to pass several temporary extensions that left states unsure of what projects to plan.

"That has put a tremendous crimp in planning and programming projects," Dave Sprynczynatryk, director of the department of transportation, said.

Conrad said negotiators in the both houses have agreed to the bill, making it a "foregone conclusion it will pass." The House was expected to approve it Thursday evening and the Senate will take it up soon after that.

North Dakota's largest single project in the bill is the construction of a new Liberty Memorial Bridge, which spans the Missouri River in Bismarck-Mandan. The bill includes $40 million for the bridge.

The federal government will pay for 90 percent of the bridge, when most state projects get only 80 percent funded by the federal government.

"It's very rare to get anything beyond the traditional 80-20 match," Sprynczynatyk said.

Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., said the additional 10 percent of funding for the bridge was possible because the case was made that a project that large is a big hit on local budgets. The state and cities of Bismarck and Mandan will pay the remainder of the costs.

Conrad said the bill is a "total victory" for North Dakota because every objective was achieved.

Other major projects in the region include:

3 $10 million for improvements to U.S. Route 12 near Bowman and Hettinger.

3 $2 million for reconstruction of Mandan Avenue in Mandan.

3 $6 million to reconstruct N.D. Highway 1804 near Bismarck.

The bill also includes a provision to designate the Theodore Roosevelt Expressway a "high-priority corridor," which includes U.S. 85 that runs through Williston, Alexander, Watford City, Grassy Butte, Fairfield, Belfield, Amidon and Bowman. The designation makes the project eligible for other federal funds in the future.

Another large project for North Dakota includes $70 million to strengthen and repair flood-damaged roads in the Devils Lake basin.

Negotiations on the highway bill were "prolonged and painful," according to Pomeroy.

Pomeroy said some negotiators used the highway bill as leverage to win votes for the Central American Free Trade Agreement that passed the House by a vote of 217-215 early Thursday morning.

"It's absolutely no accident that it will be voted on within a day after the CAFTA vote," Pomeroy said.