HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s $1 billion share of federal economic stimulus money will pay for work on hundreds of highway and bridge projects and create as many as 30,000 jobs, the state’s transportation chief announced Monday.

Repairs and improvements will be made to 608 miles of highway and 399 bridges, state Transportation Secretary Allen Biehler said at a Capitol news conference. Among them is an 80-year-old bridge near Carlisle that Vice President Joe Biden inspected during a swing through the state in February to drum up congressional support for the $787 billion stimulus bill.

The appropriation, combined with about $2 billion in federal and state funds for ongoing similar road and bridge projects, represents the most the Pennsylvania Transportation Department has ever committed to construction in a single year, Biehler said.

“PennDOT is going to drive a very powerful economic engine” that will speed economic recovery, he said.

Associated Pennsylvania Constructors estimates 8,000 to 10,000 construction jobs would be required for the stimulus projects, said Robert Latham, a lobbyist for the highway construction trade group. Biehler said hiring for nonconstruction activities could push the total to roughly 30,000 jobs.

The task of soliciting bids and awarding contracts for the stimulus-funded projects already has begun. Most, if not all, of the work is expected to be completed by the end of 2010, Biehler said.

The biggest planned expenditures are $66 million for improvements to extend the life of the Girard Point Bridge on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia and $46 million for the relocation of a railroad and other preparations for the widening of state Route 28 in the Pittsburgh area.

The selected projects were picked largely because the work they need could begin as soon as contracts are signed, Biehler said. State officials have said that rights of way already have been purchased and design work and environmental impact studies are not needed.

Some of the projects were drawn from priority lists for the next four years already approved by the 23 regional planning organizations, while others “were not on the list at all.”

The regional agencies have signed off on all the stimulus-funded projects, Biehler said.

“It was simply a matter of what work was available and ready to go or could be made ready to go,” he said.