A Congressional impasse over federal highway funding should not affect highway projects in Indiana unless the dispute becomes a prolonged one, according to the Indiana Department of Transportation.

"What may happen if this becomes a protracted issue is an interruption in cash flow not just for Indiana but for all the states," INDOT spokesman Will Wingfield said Monday.

However, Wingfield said all indications from Washington, D.C., are Congress will resolve the issue and federal highway funding will be restored. That funding provides 80 percent to 90 percent of the funding for most major road projects in Indiana and other states.

On Friday, U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., blocked passage of a $10 billion bill that would pay for extended unemployment benefits for 40,000 out-of-work Americans as well as provide stop-gap funding for Federal Highway Administration programs that have expired.

Bunning said he did not want the bill brought to a vote because it would increase the nation's budget deficit. He blocked it by objecting to passage without a recorded vote, something the Senate has been doing on such bills until now.

Wingfield said because it is winter and there is less construction going on, the cessation of federal highway payments would not have much of an effect for some time. State departments of transportation payments from the federal program weekly and use the money to pay contractors working on the projects.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced more than 40 projects directly under its purview nationwide, which are staffed by U.S. DOT inspectors, would cease immediately because those inspectors were being laid off. None of those projects are in Indiana.