CARSON CITY -- Gov. Jim Gibbons said Wednesday he and his transition team on transportation matters may have come up with a unique way to cover an estimated $3.8 billion shortfall in highway construction funds: Sell the water rights the state owns under its highways.

"It is an asset the state can tap into and perhaps assist in the funding of these road construction projects," Gibbons said.

He said he asked the Desert Research Institute to come up with estimates for the water rights' values.

Gibbons said the value could be "pretty doggone close" to the $3.8 billion a blue ribbon task force estimated the state needs to build 10 superhighways between now and 2015, including two big projects on U.S. Highway 95 and Interstate 15 in Southern Nevada.

"There are buyers out there, and the state does have a significant amount of highways," Gibbons said.

The Nevada Department of Transportation owns and maintains 5,000 miles of highways in the state.

But the proposal dumbfounded Southern Nevada Water Authority spokesman J.C. Davis.

"I've never heard of it," he said, adding that he was unaware that the Transportation Department owned any of the water underneath its roads.

The water authority, which serves fast-growing Southern Nevada, is reaching out to eastern Nevada to get additional water to meet its needs. It also has purchased water rights in the northeastern part of Clark County, and initiated deals with Colorado River users and the federal government to better utilize water from the river. The Las Vegas Valley gets about 90 percent of its drinking water from the river by way of Lake Mead.

Davis said businesses or entities that purchase land in Nevada don't automatically own the water beneath that land. The state owns the land until the owner applies to the state engineer and demonstrates that the owner would put the water to beneficial use, he said.

He didn't know how the Transportation Department would receive that kind of permit because the department, to his knowledge, doesn't use any of the water underneath its roads.

However, the Nevada Division of Water Resources' Web site shows that the Transportation Department owns numerous water rights in basins throughout the state.

The state engineer, who oversees water rights in the state, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The blue ribbon task force had recommended a series of tax increases and modifications to come up with the money, including raising the gasoline tax by increasing the current 17.6 cent per gallon state portion of the tax annually by the rate of inflation.

But Gibbons said his transportation transition team, co-chaired by Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson and Reno businessman Tyrus W. Cobb, were aware of his and many others' opposition to tax increases.

"This shows the creativity of the transition teams," he said. "We brought together a lot of people with good ideas. They thought inside the box and outside the box. It wasn't just (recommending) another two cents on the gasoline tax.

Gibbons met all day Wednesday with members of his education, water, business and industry, gaming and other transition teams. He said they gave him ideas that he may include in his State of the State address on Jan. 22.

More formal reports from the transition teams will be given next month, Gibbons added.

After their meeting with Gibbons, both Cobb and Gibson were closemouthed on what specifically they recommended to the governor.

"We are confident the governor will take our work seriously," said Gibson, who was defeated in 2006 when he sought the Democratic nomination for governor. "Transportation is extremely important. It is the lifeblood of the entire state. It has to be a priority."

"We believe there are innovative ways we can approach the problem," Cobb added.

Cobb said they favor toll roads and looking at private-public partnerships under which a private company might construct a road for the state, which then would make payments for its purchase. That way, the state would not have to float bonds to raise money for construction, he said.

New state Transportation Director Susan Martinovich, who attended the transition team's meeting with Gibbons, said transportation departments in other states have used these methods to construct needed roads.

"We will learn from the mistakes of other states," added Martinovich, who will appoint an advisory committee to look at some of these methods.

"It has been done in California and we are going to look at it," she said.

Martinovich said she was confident that before the 2007 Legislature ends in June, the state will have reached agreement on ways to fund the entire $3.8 billion highway construction shortfall. Her staff will finish designs on all the superhighway projects and advertise for construction as soon as funds become available, she said.

The unfunded superhighways include two $1 billion projects: widening I-15 from Tropicana Avenue to the Spaghetti Bowl and widening U.S. 95 from the Spaghetti Bowl to Foothill Boulevard in Henderson.

Review-Journal writer Lawrence Mower contributed to this report.