Road, trail and transit projects planned for the Santa Fe region are among those competing for a share of new money from a federal stimulus package.

It's unknown how much of the nearly $252 million that the state Transportation Department received will be distributed to cities and counties, but officials here are asking for at least $5 million.

On the wish list approved Thursday by a joint city/county planning group is resurfacing Airport Road and final funding for an extension of Siler Road across the Santa Fe River as well as median landscaping for Rodeo Road.

Money to buy buses for Santa Fe Trails public transit service and four recreation trail projects have also been requested by the Santa Fe Metropolitan Planning Organization, including more paving on the Rail Trail and construction on the Santa Fe River Trail.

"Keep in mind these numbers are not guaranteed," MPO staff planner Mark Tibbetts told county commissioners and city councilors Thursday. "This still has to get Department of Transportation approval."

For example, the state has already allocated millions to the Siler Road project, but another $600,000 is needed to begin construction.

"The idea is to get people to work," said Commissioner Mike Anaya, MPO chairman. "We need to get the DOT to fund these projects."

State officials are talking with local governments about using the stimulus money, but were reluctant to provide planning details this week.

"We are still receiving projects and reviewing them for project readiness, and once we have everything finalized and everyone agrees, then we will make it public," said S.U. Mahesh, Transportation Department spokesman. "A decision will be made based on input from everyone."

Six state projects will be funded with cash from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Highway Infrastructure Investment Program, including two on U.S. 84/285 north of Santa Fe. About $76 million will be allocated to local governments for their projects, said Mahesh.

Although Tibbetts said department representatives told him the city was eligible for a share of $10 million allocated for District 5, which extends to Farmington, Chama and Moriarty, Mahesh would not confirm or deny that detail.

Santa Fe County has also submitted a list of 42 potential projects, including work on N.M. 14 near its business park, County Road 55A near Cerrillos, and widening County Road 98 near Chimayó.

County Manager Roman Abeyta doesn't expect all the projects will be funded but said that completing even a handful is a good opportunity.

"We would be able to get these roads done probably a lot sooner than we had planned on because we don't have enough money to do all of these roads," Abeyta said.

Projects eligible for the money have to be shovel-ready, which means all their engineering and due diligence work must be complete. If documents don't check out by an August deadline, Tibbetts said, projects could get bumped from or added to the list.

City Public Works Director Robert Romero said the city kept its requests modest in view of how thinly the money is likely to be spread. "By the time you try to distribute it fairly across all the needs and across the state," he said, "it ends up being less than you might expect."

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.