The Providence JournaL / Frieda Squires

PROVIDENCE — With a major exception — the Department of Transportation — state government has been caught flat-footed by the opportunity offered by the economic stimulus plan taking shape in Washington.

Preoccupied with budget problems, the Carcieri administration didn’t assign officials to assemble plans for using the money until Wednesday, weeks after the governor began receiving criticism for lack of action.

Amy Kempe, the governor’s press secretary, said yesterday, “They are working on a final list.”

However, Kevin M. Flynn, head of the state Division of Planning, said, “I just got the assignment yesterday” from the governor’s office. So did the other official Carcieri assigned to the job, Economic Development Corporation Executive Director J. Michael Saul.

“I’m hoping to have a good list available in about a month,” Flynn said.

The DOT, meanwhile, has a $130-million list of projects that Robert A. Smith, the agency’s acting chief of design, said could be advertised for bids within 180 days.

The situation leaves state government with a package of road and bridge projects, but little identified in other areas such as education and transit. Part of his job, Flynn said, will be to identify other state and local projects that might qualify.

The mayors of some of the state’s larger cities are apparently ahead of state government in making plans. Providence, Warwick and Woonsocket all assembled lists of projects in time to be included in a 600-page list the U.S. Conference of Mayors published Dec. 8. Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline says the projects would cost $570 million.

Nearby states are also further along than Rhode Island. In mid-December, Massachusetts Governor Patrick created a task force to identify projects involving clean energy, education facilities, transportation and information technology.

By that time, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell had already received 1,300 proposals from cities and towns. On Dec. 17, she told local officials to tighten up their lists to meet the standards she was hearing about from Washington: Projects ready to begin construction within 180 days of allocation of the money.

Despite talk about “use it or lose it” money, Flynn said he doesn’t think Rhode Island will lose anything through modest delay. He pointed out that any package will need congressional approval. “I think we’ll be in good shape if we have a list together in a month’s time,” he said.

“I think it’s quite urgent,” said Scott Wolf, executive director of the nonprofit Grow Smart Rhode Island. “There hasn’t been enough planning and thought about what are the greatest needs.” He said his group has been unsuccessfully pushing the administration since November to get ready. Wolf said that “it is at least as important as trying to figure out how to balance the budget.” That has been Carcieri’s longtime focus and the subject of his televised speech Wednesday night.

The stimulus plan is intended to create jobs. Cicilline said the three cities’ projects would generate 6,600 jobs. It’s not clear how many jobs the DOT program would create.

Cicilline was among 12 mayors President-elect Barack Obama invited to George Mason University, in Virginia, yesterday to hear him describe his economic stimulus plan. Cicilline called the program a “huge” and “historic” opportunity, and said that Obama’s transition team made it clear that he is interested in more than traditional highway projects.

Cicilline’s proposals include highway projects, but also renovating the Providence railroad station and three schools, improving transit service, making improvements at the North Burial Ground and dredging a lake at Roger Williams Park.

He drew some criticism outside the state with a plan to spend $4.8 million on the polar bear exhibit at the zoo.

Woonsocket would rehabilitate bridges and roads, but it would also put solar panels on fire stations and schools. Warwick is proposing sewer projects.

The DOT projects include everything from repaving part of Route 95 south of Route 2 to bringing many sidewalks up to standards for use by the disabled, sealing pavement cracks and rehabilitating the Sakonnet Lighthouse.

Not on the list are projects that the DOT is already planning to spend $98 million on this year. Those include $9 million for repairs to two prominent problems, the Route 95 bridge over the Pawtucket River and the Sakonnet River Bridge.

The DOT is expecting about $130 million because officials from the Federal Highway Administration, the agency the DOT normally works with, indicated that Rhode Island will probably get about that much under the program.

blandis@projo.com