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For evidence of federal stimulus money on the Capital Region, look no farther than the construction projects on interstates 10 and 12.

These types of projects—widening I-10 from the 10/12 split to Siegen Lane, and widening I-12 from O’Neal Lane to Denham Springs—were envisioned when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act awarded $2.7 billion to Louisiana after being passed by Congress in 2009.

The jury remains out, however, on whether the stimulus money, with a national price tag of more than $800 billion, provided any real recovery or merely created temporary remedies while exacerbating budget shortfalls currently under way.

As 2012 nears and the money is expected to run out, agencies that relied on the assistance to patch their budgets will have to account for tremendous revenue losses.

“We knew the money was temporary, and we knew it would not be replenished,” says Jim Richardson, an LSU economics professor and a member of the Legislative Revenue Estimating Committee. “In that sense, we took the easy option at the time to balance a budget, and we said we’d just see what will transpire over the years. But now comes a time when we have to face up to the facts.”

The Capital Region has been one of Louisiana’s biggest beneficiaries of the federal funds, in part because so many statewide administrative offices are located here. Of the funds allocated to the region, more that $1 billion was distributed to the 6th congressional district, which encompasses the nine-parish area surrounding East Baton Rouge Parish.

From Jan. 1 to March 31, 6,400 jobs reportedly were attributed to stimulus money in the area, according to recovery.gov, the federal accountability site for economic stimulus funds. It’s unclear, however, how many of those jobs are temporary.

“It won’t create new jobs,” Richardson says, “but it’ll save some jobs, at least in the short term. They could be gone in the next year or so.”

The state’s two largest recipients of aid were the Department of Transportation & Development and the Department of Education.

DOTD received $430 million, of which more than $100 million will benefit Capital Region drivers. Widening a 4.1-mile stretch of I-10 from four lanes to six from the 10/12 split to east of Siegen Lane costs $86 million for construction; widening a 4.35-mile stretch of I-12 from O’Neal Lane to east of La. Highway 3002 costs $100 million for design and construction. And more than $7.7 million went to Phase II of the Central Thruway, one of the largest public works projects in East Baton Rouge Parish history.

DOTD Secretary Sherry LeBas says the money will have a profound effect on the area’s infrastructure.

“If we had not received federal stimulus money, we would not be widening I-10,” she says. “It just wasn’t a funded project. I’d say the same for I-12.”

LeBas says 4,180 jobs have been created or retained across the state from stimulus projects, including 287 in the Baton Rouge area. She adds that some of the larger projects will provide employment for up to three years; the current interstate projects are scheduled for completion in late 2011.

“I hope by then the economy turns around,” she says, “but with the $150 million of capital outlay money that’s been set aside for transportation infrastructure, we do see work for construction industry people in the future.”

Higher education received $290 million. Unlike DOTD, however, which can work on a project-to-project basis, much of the money was put toward recurring expenses.

LSU received $95 million in stimulus money, which will run out at the end of the 2010-11 fiscal year. The state’s flagship university estimates that 165 jobs were retained last year because of the funds, but 305 positions had to be eliminated. In the past 18 months, LSU’s budget has been reduced by $42 million, and $46 million more is on the table for next year. Hundreds of jobs are tied to the proposed cuts.

“The stimulus funds have helped the university protect jobs over the last year,” says Eric Monday, LSU’s interim vice chancellor for finance and administrative services. “However, if these are removed, the impact to LSU will be profound, with job losses much greater than we have already experienced.”

SHORT CUT: Construction of the $7.8 million second phase of the Central Thruway was funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The second phase includes construction of two bridges, improvements at the intersection with Greenwell Springs Road and construction from Frenchtown Road to Sullivan Road.

The East Baton Rouge Parish School System received about $58 million. About $21 million was used for renovations and maintenance in the form of construction bonds to be repaid.

Spokesman Chris Trahan says the system tried to use most of the money for one-time expenditures like professional development. A large portion was used for Title I funds for pre-kindergarten teachers and aides, which is a recurring expense. Trahan says the system hopes Louisiana will qualify for federal Race to the Top grant money, which could soften the blow.

Federal departments and agencies were major beneficiaries of the stimulus money, but local governments also were allocated funds to distribute at their discretion.

East Baton Rouge Parish received $27.7 million, of which $3.2 million went toward weatherizing buildings and almost $1 million toward the purchase of a helicopter for the Baton Rouge Police Department. About $1.7 million went to early childhood learning programs, and another $3.5 million went to workforce training.

“We were meticulous about putting it in nonrecurring places,” says Mike Futrell, the city-parish’s chief administrative officer, adding that the city-parish was fortunate that its budget didn’t have to rely on the money.

“We didn’t need it to prevent financial disaster. Many other places had to use it just to keep the lights on, but we were able to ask ourselves, ‘How can we use this money to move Baton Rouge forward?’ Training people for work, doing more for pre-K programs—that will show benefits for years to come.”

Money has been divvied up across the state for education, arts, law enforcement, and energy efficiency as well as for federal and state agencies, nonprofits, metro governments and schools.

Richardson says many sectors that used the money speculated that state revenues would grow fast enough in the two-year period to overcome budget shortfalls when the money ran out.

“There will be a need to make that money up someplace or to cut programs,” he says. “But certainly, state revenues will not grow that fast.”