Pressure from private groups is building to make U.S. 50 and U.S. 54, both major corridors in the Southwest, into four-lane highways. But those plans are likely to hit a roadblock at the Kansas border, The Hutchinson News reported recently.

Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico are all working on plans for the two highways, in part to help the roads handle significant truck traffic more efficiently, the newspaper reported. However, Kansas’ current budget situation makes it unlikely that funds for new projects, such as expansion of the two highways, is likely anytime soon.

And that presents a problem for officials in nearby states.

"You can't just have a four-lane funnel down to two at the Kansas state line," Bob Wilson, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Transportation, told The News.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has proposed borrowing $465 million in bond money just to keep up with road work already in the Comprehensive Transportation Program, according to the Kansas Department of Transportation. 

“The time has come to face facts,” Transportation Secretary Deb Miller said. “If the Legislature doesn’t approve the plan that Gov. Sebelius has proposed to complete the CTP, we will be forced to start cutting projects.”

In part, the shortfall resulted because the state did not make scheduled transfers of sales tax money to the highway fund, the DOT said.

U.S. 54 enters the state at the southwestern corner of Kansas, coming out of Oklahoma and New Mexico and traveling along the southern part of the state to its largest city, Wichita. U.S. 50 enters Kansas from Colorado, running through the beef-industry-driven boom towns of Garden City and Dodge City, and eventually connecting to the Kansas City, MO, metropolitan area. Both are two lanes for most of their paths through Kansas, and both carry significant truck traffic.