A Pennsylvania Turnpike spokesman calls it a "fork in the road," but it might be a giant financial pothole that PennDOT is approaching.

The turnpike yesterday transferred $225 million to the state for highway projects and public transit, the first of four payments scheduled for the fiscal year under Act 44, the transportation funding law enacted in 2007.

The $900 million in annual payments will shrink to $450 million in the fiscal year that starts next July if the state fails to win federal approval to impose tolls on Interstate 80, or come up with some other revenue source.

That would sharply curtail road and bridge repairs and trigger new financial emergencies at transit agencies like the Port Authority and Philadelphia's SEPTA.

"We've got one more year of payments until we come to a fork in the road," turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo said.

The Federal Highway Administration refused to approve I-80 tolls in September, but state and turnpike officials are preparing to revive talks with the new administration.

"It's a new policy group. There are new philosophies about these things," Mr. DeFebo said.

Jordan Clark, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard, Centre County, a leading foe of I-80 tolls, said the new administration is likely to be less receptive to the proposal.

"I would say they have to rethink that," he said, adding that former President George W. Bush's transportation secretary, Mary Peters, "would toll your driveway if you let her."

Mr. Clark said regardless of the policy makers, the state does not meet federal criteria for tolling I-80, the 311-mile east-west highway that crosses the state's midsection.

Barry Schoch, the turnpike's project manager for I-80 tolling, said the Obama administration is "slowly getting in place" and has been focused so far on the economic stimulus program and reauthorization of the federal surface transportation law.

Turnpike and state officials last month signaled their intention to renew talks with the Federal Highway Administration, he said. He said he didn't know when the talks would start.

The state would need federal approval to toll I-80 by spring to keep the turnpike's funding of highways and transit systems at the levels envisioned when Act 44 was passed, Mr. Schoch said.

While it would take at least two years to design and implement a tolling system for I-80, the turnpike could borrow against future I-80 revenue if approval comes by spring, he said.

Under Act 44, starting next July, the turnpike's payments to the state will drop to a fixed $450 million a year if I-80 is not tolled. If the FHWA approves tolling, the turnpike's payments would rise to $923 million.

"If the federal government does not authorize the tolling of I-80, the end result would be an overall decrease of nearly $60 billion in vitally needed transportation funding over the 50-year partnership established by Act 44," said Allen Biehler, state transportation secretary and chairman of the turnpike commission. "We simply must take steps to close that significant gap."

PennDOT said it has improved 936 miles of road and replaced 79 bridges with Act 44 funds in the first two years of the program. The legislation also averted deep service cuts and huge fare increases for transit riders. The turnpike has transferred $1.8 billion to the state over the two years.

Alternatives to I-80 tolling would be increases in state driver's license fees, registration fees or gasoline taxes, Mr. Schoch said. The current budget stalemate in Harrisburg underscores the political difficulty of doing any of that, he said.

Mr. Clark said coalitions that oppose I-80 tolls have remained active and are "just waiting for this to rear its ugly head again."

"I don't understand why actions haven't been taken to look for alternate sources of funding," he said. "They're digging themselves a pretty big hole."