MOUNT VERNON — The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s stimulus package has roadwork humming, but the nation’s more enduring transportation funding source is about to go broke, federal officials are warning.

President Barack Obama wants to patch that source, the Highway Trust Fund, for the next 18 months instead of moving ahead now on a longer-term transportation funding bill, which would direct federal investment in the nation’s roads, bridges and transit systems.

But U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, a Democrat from Everett, criticized that approach during a roundtable discussion with local leaders Monday at Skagit Station. He has been soliciting input from local officials for more than a year on what they want in a new transportation funding bill, which he expected to be adopted this fall.

On Monday, he advocated authorizing such a bill, which would include $450 billion in spending over six years for the nation’s roads, bridges and transit, and another $50 billion for high-speed rail despite the Obama administration’s guidance to wait.

“Unfortunately in this case, the president has recommended an 18-month extension on not moving forward on this bill,” said Larsen, who sits on the subcommittee currently crafting the legislation. “We have told the White House that is unacceptable.”

He said finding a funding source for the bill is a task Congress has yet to tackle as it is penning the specifics of what would get funded.

Larsen returns to Washington, D.C., today to meet with the Highways and Transit Subcommittee, which is expected to pass legislation to the full House Transportation Committee this summer.

Once the measure is taken up by the full House Committee, perhaps in mid-July, Larsen has said he will seek earmarks for 28 projects in his 2nd Congressional District.

Seven are in Skagit County:

• $3 million to design a replacement for the Anacortes Ferry Terminal.

• $800,000 for pedestrian and school zone safety improvements on Highway 20 in Burlington.

• $2.114 million for a new roundabout connecting Highway 9 with Jameson Street in Sedro-Woolley.

• $950,000 for regional transportation connectivity.

• $5.92 million for the city of Mount Vernon and Skagit County’s Anderson and LaVenture roads project.

• About $900,000 to extend Roosevelt Avenue at Urban Avenue in Mount Vernon.

• About $2.96 million for riverfront improvements in downtown Mount Vernon.

Mount Vernon Mayor Bud Norris asked Larsen on Monday what the likely timetable is for moving forward on the transportation spending bill, which would replace the last major surface transportation bill known as SAFETEA-LU.

The $326 billion SAFETEA-LU — which stands for Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users — expires Sept. 30, Larsen said. And the act’s funding source, the gas-tax supported Highway Trust Fund, is scheduled to run dry about a month earlier, he said.

Larsen said it appears the Senate is going along with the Obama administration’s urgings that an 18-month stop-gap be put in place. He said the House of Representatives, however, plans to continue crafting, and advancing, legislation “to force the hand of the Senate.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood issued a statement last week on the issue.

“I recognize that there will be concerns raised about this approach,” he said of waiting to pass a long-term transportation bill. “However, with the reality of our fiscal environment and the critical demand to address our infrastructure investments in a smarter, more focused approach, we should not rush legislation.”

Sedro-Woolley Mayor Mike Anderson said he agrees with Larsen on moving ahead to have a transportation funding bill in place by the time the stimulus package funds run out.

“It will open more access to parts of our town,” Anderson said of the Highway 9 roundabout project for which Larsen seeks funding. “We actually have a rush hour in Sedro-Woolley now.”

Elliott Wilson can be reached at 360-416-2147 or at .