RALEIGH - Gov. Mike Easley and the top two leaders of the General Assembly are expected to meet Tuesday about appointing a task force to study the state's pressing transportation needs.

The meeting signals that it is unlikely the state legislature will convene a special session to tackle the state's mushrooming demand for road repair, new roads and mass transit before lawmakers return for their regular session next spring.

Legislators largely did not address the issue in this year's session, focusing instead on matters such as relieving counties of Medicaid costs.

Easley, House Speaker Joe Hackney and Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight are scheduled to meet at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at Easley's office in the state Capitol. Easley said two weeks ago he planned to appoint a study group, and neither Basnight nor Hackney have pushed for a special session instead.

Basnight "would like for a group to be charged with studying these issues and propose innovative solutions and ways to fund them," said Schorr Johnson, Basnight's spokesman. "He thinks that before the General Assembly considers these issues, a thorough study would be in order."

Transportation officials said last year the state will need $122 billion over the next 25 years to fix roads and meet the needs of a growing population, but the state will have less than half that much money. A study group is likely to look at both the variety of needs and how to fund them.

"There's no specific plan or program on the agenda," said Easley spokesman Seth Effron.

North Carolina and states across the country are examining how to pay for transportation infrastructure needs, a priority highlighted by the recent interstate bridge collapse in Minnesota.

Lawmakers in Raleigh face an unappealing set of options: toll roads, higher taxes or cuts in other programs.

North Carolina traditionally has funded transportation through the gas tax, a tax on car sales and fees. Inflation and population growth have strained those sources, and lawmakers have been taking hundreds of millions of dollars in highway money each year to fund the rest of the state budget.

Republicans and some Democrats have continued to push for an end to that shifting of money, a cause that has gained momentum in the legislature.