WASHINGTON -- Hawai'i would receive about $59 million in special projects under three spending bills a Senate panel approved this week.

In addition to special project funding, one of the three — the transportation spending bill — contains an additional $143 million for the state's allotment next year under the federal highway program and $35.1 million for the O'ahu transit system. The transit money is to pay for new buses and vans as well as the construction of transit centers.

"The programs seek to improve all aspects of our quality of life in Hawai`i -- from aiming to make it easier to move from one destination to another on O'ahu … to seeking greener and less expensive energy options," said U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i.

The Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved all three bills, sending them to the full Senate for its action. But the process for funding federal operations in fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 is still in very early stages with little likelihood it will be completed before the November elections.

The transportation bill also includes $20 million for preliminary engineering and other costs for Honolulu's mass transit project and $2 million for Hawai`i, Maui and Kaua'i counties to use to buy buses to expand routes and increase service.

Inouye, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he was "especially pleased" for the mass transit funding because it harder to obtain federal money during tough budgetary times.

Another $5 million would be used to for H-1 improvements to the Kinau and Lusitana street on-ramps for safer access to downtown Honolulu.

The three bills also include: