OTTAWA - About $3 billion in federal infrastructure money is tied up in red tape - cash that should be flowing to bolster the country's struggling economy, says a new report.

The study by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities says there are hundreds of municipal projects ready to go that can be financed by existing, unspent, funding.

But it says the money has been delayed because provinces took too long to sign agreements with Ottawa

The federation, which represents big cities and small communities, is calling on governments to pump money into roads, bridges, transit and sewers to help avoid a possible recession.

"Spending infrastructure dollars already in the federal pipeline would be a kind of recession immunization," said Jean Perrault, the federation's president and the mayor of Sherbrooke, Que.

The report says injecting about $8 billion already committed by Ottawa, the provinces and the cities to infrastructure projects through 2010 would create 92,000 jobs and expand the economy by one per cent.

It says that would require no extra spending beyond the amount already budgeted last year by the Conservative government.

Infrastructure spending is expected to be one of the few stimulative levers governments will have to pull at a time of looming deficits and recession.

The report says accelerating $1 billion in infrastructure spending would have the same impact as a $1-billion tax cut.

The job of doling out billions of dollars in budgeted money for infrastructure projects will fall to the new transport minister, John Baird.

Baird agreed that the infrastructure dollars are there and waiting to be spent.

"We're going through some economic uncertain times, and a lot of jobs can be created in the construction of this infrastructure," he said in an interview.

Baird added that he has asked Perrault, the mayors of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, and Ontario Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman to identify problem areas, as well as specific projects that are ready to go.

The Conservative government's infrastructure plan, called Building Canada, will see Ottawa spend $33 billion over seven years on projects across the country, with matching contributions from provinces, territories and communities.

The funding arrangement will run until 2014.

British Columbia was the first province to reach a so-called framework agreement with the federal government last November, which sets out how the province will use its share of the funding.

The last province to come to terms with Ottawa was Manitoba, which signed a deal in September.

Infrastructure projects awaiting the green light include a commuter train between the Alberta communities of Canmore and Banff, upgrades to a Sky Train station in Vancouver, and the expansion of a water filtration plant in Collingwood, Ont.