A shortage of green in Washington could very soon mean a shortage of orange in mid-Michigan.

"The Federal Highway Trust Fund is where gas tax and other payments go-- that's running out of money rapidly as people drive less [because of high gas prices]," says Bill Shreck, MDOT spokesman.

And unfortunately for our road-wrecked state, that fund is where we get much of our roadwork money-- money that's all but gone, Shreck says.

"This is really the beginning of both a state and national transportation crisis," he says.

Crisis could be averted, at least temporarily, Shreck says, if Congress moves $8 billion into the fund.

"In the long run, we won't be doing as many projects this year, down about 25 percent," Shreck says.

But if construction projects stay quiet because there's just no money to fund them, that means there's less of a need for construction workers-- who depend on these projects for their livelihood and to fuel the state's economy.

"It'll be thousands [of jobs lost]," Shreck says, saying that not just the construction workers, but the spinoff jobs the projects create. "All that disappears."

Bare bones, he says, until we change the way transportation is funded.

"We may be only doing maintenance in 2010. That means just clearing snow, filling potholes."

That could be a full time job in itself for our state, but with federal money floundering, even the basics might be scaled back.