A Senate bill approved last week will transfer $8 billion from the U.S. Treasury’s general fund and into highway development, improvement and maintenance. The State of Texas will receive $640 million of that.

The legislation curbs a 34 percent cut in highway/bridge investment nationwide, said one official, who added that Texas would have gotten nearly 30 percent less in highway maintenance/improvement funds for 2009 without the Senate’s action, and 30,000 Texans could have lost their construction jobs.

State highway department budgets have been hit by fuel and operati...

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