For more than 40 years, Centre County authorities have debated the need to relieve traffic congestion on heavily traveled State College roads.

As of last week, they are one step closer to achieving their goal.

A highway-funding bill passed by Congress Friday included money set aside to complete preliminary engineering and environmental work for the project called the Eastern Inner Loop.

At the request of Centre County transportation planners, U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., added $1 million to the bill, which had already passed in the Senate. Because of the change, the bill moves onto a conference committee, which will merge both versions of the bill. Then both legislatures will vote again on the bill, Peterson's press secretary, Paul Feenstra, said. "We're hopeful [that getting final approval] should not be a problem, but it's not a guarantee," Feenstra said.

The Eastern Inner Loop would lead motorists from the intersection of Vairo Boulevard and North Atherton Street to the intersection of University Drive and Curtin Road. The new road would connect Atherton Street to Park Avenue, said Centre County transportation planner Tom Zilla.

About 60 percent of the preliminary engineering and environmental work for the project has already been completed.

If the final bill includes the $1 million for the Eastern Inner Loop, that amount will be used to complete preliminary engineering work, 60 percent of which has already been completed.

When finished, the Eastern Inner Loop is estimated to cost $36 million. A date has not been set for the completion of the project, Zilla said.

"I think we're looking at 10 years at this point," Finley said.

Zilla said the additional road would help the traffic flow in the area.

"It would be a way to address both current and future congestion issues in the North Atherton Street corridor," Zilla said.

Planners are also hoping to connect the new road to Interstate 99, said Bob Finley, Penn State assistant vice president for finance and business.

The new entrance would provide a welcoming landscape for motorists coming into University Park, he said.

"It would provide a more direct access and egress to and from the campus. It would relieve the traffic that plugs up North Atherton Street," Finley said. "This would get traffic in and out of the campus very effectively."

Finley said he did not think the new road would increase traffic congestion on campus but would improve traffic situations for both the community and the university.

Penn State is one of six partners that will each contribute financially to the project. Planners hope to obtain about 80 percent of the total cost for the project from federal funding and split the remaining 20 percent among the six partners, including College, Ferguson, and Patton townships, State College Borough, Penn State and the Centre County Board of Commissioners.

Centre County planners decided to request the funds last January after learning that Congress had passed other bills earmarking certain funds for specific projects, Zilla said.

Lack of available funding and some controversy over using land owned by Penn State has stalled the project over the four decades. The project has been on hold since November 2002 while planners wait for federal funding, Zilla said.