AUGUSTA  — A looming $1 billion gap between revenues and projected spending in Maine’s general fund budget for the next two years tells only part of Maine’s dreary financial story. State analysts say Maine’s highway fund is facing a shortfall of $720 million in the next two-year budget cycle.

The $720 million represents capital improvements for Maine’s highways and bridges for which no funding is now in sight.

State transportation officials say other maintenance and operations are still funded with money that’s anticipated.

A newly elected state senator who’s served on the Legislature’s Transportation Committee, Republican Douglas Thomas of Ripley, says the list of projects to be paid for with the $720 million is overly ambitious.