CHEYENNE - Construction of a climate-modeling supercomputing facility outside Cheyenne is expected to begin next spring, Gov. Dave Freudenthal announced Friday.

Design work is expected to be done by March, with construction to follow soon after.

The Boulder, Colo.-based National Center for Atmospheric Research is leading the project and the National Science Foundation is covering most of the project's $80 million cost. Wyoming is contributing $20 million.

The center is expected to bring as many as 50 high-paying jobs to Cheyenne.

Freudenthal and University of Wyoming President Tom Buchanan met in Washington, D.C., this week with Arden Bement Jr., director of the National Science Foundation. They returned with the first official construction timetable, more than two and a half years after the project was announced.

"I am gratified to receive this timeline from the National Science Foundation, and look forward to making clear progress towards construction," Freudenthal wrote Friday in an update to the Legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee.

Construction could be completed in late 2011 or early 2012, said NCAR spokesman David Hosansky.

Also this week, project designers released a report on their work, which is about two-thirds complete.

"The report is a fairly significant milestone. It really puts a handle on the planning and the costs. It shows the type of engineering that is going into this facility," Freudenthal spokesman Rob Black said.

The supercomputer will be one of the most efficient facilities of its kind in the world, he said.