Wyoming is tied for first place in the nation for the amount of Federal Stimulus dollars it's spent on highway projects.  The Wyoming Department of Transportation has paid out 94 percent of the $157.6 million in stimulus it received.

"What that means is we've done a good job of getting that money into our construction economy and getting the improvements that our highway system needs done".

Dave Kingham, for Wyoming Department of Transportation,  says the timing was great because the monies from the American Recovery and Reinvestment act came in and just about  replaced dollars slashed from the state budget.

The budget slashing came with the  economic slowdown and the  drop in mineral revenues.  Kingham says there were 69 projects across the state that were either partially or fully funded by stimulus dollars.  "So that ranged from very large projects like widening U.S. 14 to five lanes west of Cody to smaller projects - sort of pavement preservation and maintenance kind of projects like pavement over lays and chip seals - stuff that's badly needed to keep these roads in good shape until we get the money to rebuild them."

Kingham points out that our now,  Former Governor,  Dave Freudenthal has recommended in his supplemental budget that Wydot get about 50 million dollars more per year.

He says they'll wait and see what the Legislature decides during its session that begins in a week.

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