Under the plan, HB314 would be substituted in the Senate with a bill that would send $100 million annually to UDOT with the intent of eventually backing $1 billion in general obligation bonds for the state's transportation needs, said sponsor Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo.

Republican leaders announced Friday afternoon their budget would allocate $490 million to transportation, including the $100 million under Lockhart's bill. That would be the largest single allocation of new money for the coming fiscal year - $30 million more than education would receive and $160 million more than Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. proposed in his budget.

A call to Huntsman spokesman Mike Mower seeking comment was not returned.

Lockhart said Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, had agreed to introduce as early as Monday the substitute version that would allow for the bonding. Wednesday is the last day of the regular session of the 2007 Legislature.

The upcoming bill won't have anything to do with the question of imposing tolls, which have been discussed for the planned Mountain View Corridor on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley, Lockhart said.

Nor does it have anything to do with HB158, which would capture three separate Salt Lake County taxes to buy land for the Mountain View Corridor.

It was unclear Friday which of the state's many pressing transportation needs might get first crack at the new bonding provision, said UDOT spokesman Nile Easton. He said the bill could require UDOT to come up with a recommended project list by June.

The $490 million budget recommendation for transportation is the largest UDOT cash infusion since 1997, when the state hiked the gas tax to pay for the $1.5 billion Interstate 15 overhaul completed in anticipation of the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

That also was the year the Legislature, responding to rural lawmakers' complaints that they deserved road funding, too, created the $3.35 billion Centennial Highway Fund, an 11-year project whose debts are nearly paid off.

The expected new version of HB314 would require UDOT to recommend projects to the Transportation Commission for vetting, with the Legislature's Executive Appropriations Committee responsible for ultimate bonding approval.

That is a significant difference from the Centennial Highway Fund, whose projects were chosen by lawmakers and local elected officials.

"What we really don't want is a pork-barrel list," Lockhart said.