NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A Channel 4 analysis of how the Tennessee Department of Transportation is spending stimulus dollars found that federal taxpayers spent an average of $161,500 per job created and that some paving jobs, which were temporary, cost taxpayers more than $1 million each.

Video: $160K Spent On Each Stimulus Transportation Job

TDOT is the top recipient of stimulus dollars in the state, receiving $523 million of federal tax dollars.

To see stimulus dollars at work, look at the bustling interchange at White Bridge Road and Interstate 40. TDOT said 314 people will be employed over the life of the project, which is being paid for with $32 million in stimulus funds.

When the federal government started pouring stimulus money into the economy, the outlook for creating jobs in Tennessee was rosy, especially in road construction.

TDOT’s chief engineer Paul Degges predicted in June 2009 that Tennessee would create or retain about 24,000 jobs with the stimulus money for transportation.

Channel 4 asked how many of those predicted jobs have actually been created.

"Right now, when you figure full-time equivalent jobs, we are at about 1,200," Degges said.

The exact number of jobs created to date, TDOT clarified, is 1,269.

Why does the number of actual jobs created fall short? Degges said a lot of guesswork went into the original prediction.

"We didn't have a whole lot of information to base our information on," he said. “I’m an engineer, not an economist. We’re good at measuring tons of steel or yards of asphalt, but job creation is a little more complex."

TDOT pointed out the original estimate of 24,000 jobs included jobs that were expected to be created over a three-year period and included both direct and indirect jobs. For example, the prediction counted not only the people on bulldozers, but the assumption that the bulldozer operator would spend more money at the corner cafe and Walmart.

Of the 1,269 jobs created by transportation funding, did taxpayers get their money's worth? Channel 4's analysis found some cases in which jobs cost a lot to create but didn't seem to produce a lasting economic impact.

The contracts awarded to Eubank Asphalt and Paving in Charlotte, Tenn., are an example.

In June, Michael Eubank was excited his company had won seven stimulus paving contracts worth $6.6 million.

"We've added 10 employees," Eubank told Channel 4 in June.

He had a busy summer, thanks to federal stimulus dollars. But these days, most of Eubank's trucks are parked. While part of that is normal for the winter, the truth is they're back to having very little work.

Eubank said the stimulus contracts ended up creating a total of six jobs: three were new hires and three people were retained who would have been laid off. However, all six of those employees were laid off when the stimulus paving projects were finished a few months later.

The fact that only six temporary jobs were created after a taxpayer investment of $6.6 million surprised a lot of people outside a grocery store in Dickson County, where Eubank is headquartered.

"That's $6 million worth of jobs?” Sheila McGinnis asked Channel 4. “That's unbelievable."

"The $6 million doesn't seem like it did its job, did it?" shopper James Cauthen said.

Eubank, by all accounts, built a series of fine roads and did nothing wrong. The $6.6 million it charged for building seven roads, Eubank pointed out, was not all profit; there are a lot of expenses involved in roadwork.

However, if the purpose of the stimulus program is to create jobs, the federal taxpayers spent $1 million each to create six temporary jobs.

Degges of TDOT pointed out that while paving contracts don’t generate long-lasting jobs, other transportation projects funded with stimulus money do. Building a bridge, for example, can take 24 to 36 months.

The Chestnut Street bridge near Greer Stadium in Nashville will be finished in about a year and is creating a number of long-term jobs.

Steve Hoover is overseeing the job for Bell Construction.

"At times, there are 30 people on the project," Hoover said.

He said five Bell employees would have been laid off if not for this project, and that isn't counting the subcontractors.

"It's been a fantastic way to keep people employed," Hoover said.

So what did the average transportation job created in Tennessee end up costing taxpayers? At a cost of $205 million spent so far, that’s $161,544 per job -- and some of those jobs faded away with the last rays of the summer sun.

See how your federal tax dollars are being spent for stimulus projects:

• State of Tennessee


• Federal Government


• ProPublica, a watchdog non-profit