CARSON CITY — A $135 million bond issue for highway projects — with more than half of the bond money going for a costly job between Reno and Carson City — was approved Tuesday by the Nevada Board of Finance.

The bond sale approved by the board, chaired by Gov. Jim Gibbons, likely will occur in April. The state hopes to get an interest rate of about 3.9 percent.

State Transportation Department officials said the money raised by the bond sale for the Interstate 580-U.S. 395 freeway project between Reno and Carson would help to complete a section from the Mount Rose Highway south to the Winters Ranch.

The entire project is for about $400 million. When completed, the project will include a six-lane freeway with four bridges, the largest of which will tower 300 feet above Galena Creek in Washoe Valley. At nearly 1,800 feet long, it will be one of the longest structures of its kind in the nation.

The state had hoped to have the entire project between Reno and Carson City done by 2009, although completion has now been pushed back to 2011.

When completed, the freeway is expected to handle up to 40,000 cars per day. It would be just west and upslope of U.S. 395's current route. The southern extension of the project eventually will tie into U.S. 50, the highway at the base of Spooner Summit that leads to Lake Tahoe and over the Sierra into California.

About $25 million to $30 million of the bond sale revenue will be used for a freeway project through Carson City. It covers part of the cost of extending the partially completed freeway from where it crosses over U.S. 50 East south to Fairview Drive.

Another $35 million of the bond sale revenue will be used to cover various remaining costs of the already completed U.S. 95 widening project in Las Vegas. That project runs from the Spaghetti Bowl in Las Vegas north to Craig Road.