Washington ? More than a quarter of all U.S. highway bridges are considered deficient, a high number but a marked improvement after a decade of increased government spending.

The number of bridges considered deficient — they need repairs, cannot adequately handle traffic loads or do not meet safety standards — declined 18 percent from 1992 to 2002, from 199,090 to 163,010, according to an Associated Press computer analysis of Federal Highway Administration data.

That new total still amounts to 28 percent of bridges.

Failure to make timely fixes to aging bridges can have deadly consequences. Three people died in November when a century-old bridge across the Chickasawhay River collapsed in Waynesboro, Miss. A replacement bridge was being built nearby at the time.

There can be other costs as well.

In Warren, Pa., the local hospital has stationed an ambulance crew on the other side of town to avoid a time-consuming three-mile detour around the Hickory Street Bridge. The 86-year-old concrete arch bridge had deteriorated so thoroughly that it was closed at the end of March. A new $10 million span is more than a year away.

The drop in deficient bridges coincided with passage of two federal transportation bills that earmarked $36.5 billion for repairs beginning in 1992 — more than double the $15.3 billion allocated during the previous decade.

“There’s no question that the previous two highway bills played a vital role in beginning to address the problem with obsolete and structurally deficient bridges, but the numbers still remain alarming,” said Steve Hansen, a spokesman for House Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska.

Congress is preparing to renew the legislation, which determines how much federal money flows to states to build and repair roads and bridges. The current six-year bill expires Sept. 30.

While lawmakers debate how much to spend, some state governments, already facing budget shortfalls, are cutting back. Kansas and Maryland have diverted money from transportation projects for other government services.