Amid recent concerns that the number of jobs saved or created by the American Recovery or Reinvestment Act may have been inflated, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood visited New Hampshire to tout the program’s success and visit the airport access road, being built in part with federal funds.

LaHood spoke to a crowd at C.R. Sparks in Bedford on Oct. 30 as part of the Politics and Eggs series held by New Hampshire’s Political Library.

The visit came the same day that Vice President Joe Biden announced that the stimulus package had “saved or created” 650,000 jobs so far, and a day after the Associated Press reported that earlier counts overstated by thousands the number of jobs saved or created so far.

LaHood acknowledged that in some cases, actual numbers have been lower than original estimates. The original estimate for jobs created or saved in New Hampshire was 16,000; so far, with half the state’s stimulus money having been allocated, 3,000 have been created or saved.

Even if the numbers are below original estimates, they are jobs that would not exist without the package, he said.

“There are, around America, thousands of people working as a result of the economic recovery (package), and without it, they’d be on unemployment. So I think the program has worked very well,” he said.

He also said he was fully confident in last week’s 650,000 number from the White House.

“These are real people with real jobs able to take care of their real families,” he said. “These are real numbers. We’re not making this stuff up.”

In a speech and in answering questions from the audience, LaHood touched on issues ranging from distracted driving – he advocated banning the use of cell phones for texting or talking in cars – to Cash for Clunkers, high-speed rail and the transportation reauthorization bill.

But the day’s main topic was the stimulus project, and LaHood followed up his breakfast with a visit to the construction site for the airport access road, which will provide a direct connection between the Everett Turnpike and Manchester Boston Regional Airport.

The project is slated to be completed two years ahead of schedule and for less money than original estimates, thanks to ARRA funding.

The stimulus package has funded 21 full-time jobs at the site, said Gov. John Lynch.

The job creation was a great relief to some. Bill McKenney of Nashua was working at the site for Continental Paving. He said he was on unemployment for four weeks before finally finding this job.

Lynch said the road will open 1,000 acres of shovelready, industrial and commercial land, adding potential for further economic development. “We’re looking at the potential of thousands of jobs having been created as the result of the acceleration of this airport access road, which is quite significant,” he said.

Though much of the available land is in Londonderry, Mike Izbicki, chairman of the Bedford Town Council and member of the New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority, said the project is also a boon for Bedford.

“That is going to be Bedford’s economic engine,” he said.

The road will run through the town’s performance zone. It will open up space for new business property, which will increase the tax base without adding children to the town’s schools, he said.

At the construction site, U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H., who recently said the stimulus project had not created the number of jobs Congress was expecting, said she was proud of her vote.

“We’re looking at proof today that the stimulus package is working,” she said.

But New Hampshire GOP spokesman Ryan Williams said Shea-Porter has nothing to be proud of.

“We’ve wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on a stimulus plan that has failed to slow unemployment and deliver the 16,000 jobs promised,” he said.