AUGUSTA, Maine — Aroostook County legislators are asking that federal stimulus dollars be used to jump start the long-stalled expansion of Interstate 95 into northern Maine.

Earlier this week, the Legislature’s Transportation Committee voted unanimously in support of a bill directing the Maine Department of Transportation to request federal economic recovery money for extending I-95 beyond Houlton.

The full Legislature is expected to vote on the resolve in the coming weeks.

Bill sponsor Sen. Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, said northern Maine residents have been waiting for more than 50 years for the promised expansion. Jackson and Rep. Charles Kenneth Theriault, D-Madawaska, argue that an interstate is critical to local farmers and truckers and that a new highway into Canada would help create a significant number of jobs in the region.

“The federal government and President Obama are looking for ways to help the economy, to put people back to work and businesses on the right track,” Jackson said in a statement. “Completing I-95 is a sure thing and something that should have been done decades ago.”

Maine is slated to receive more than $130 million from the first federal stimulus package. All of that money is earmarked for projects that were ready or nearly ready for construction.