RAPID CITY, S.D. - A member of a national panel that studied highway funding says the nation is facing a crisis in maintaining and rebuilding its roads and bridges.

Jack Schenendorf says the U.S. needs to spend at least $220 billion more each year on highways.

He told the Midwestern Legislative Conference on Tuesday that most of the panel's members think the federal gas tax should be raised 5 cents to 8 cents a gallon to help provide that money.

But David B. Horner, a top U.S Department of Transportation official, said money can be raised for urban projects by using private financing for toll roads and charging drivers if they use highways when traffic is heaviest.

Horner says toll roads likely would not be practical in rural America. But he says changes in urban highway financing would free up more money for rural construction.