AUGUSTA — Gov. Angus King proposed a budget Tuesday that will accelerate highway and bridge work without passing the cost on at the gasoline pump.

King said his spending outline lets transportation programs expand even though gas-tax revenues resulting from more fuel-efficient vehicles are diminishing. And rather than diverting costs to municipalities, the budget expands the local assistance highway and bridge program from $8 million to $12 million.

If the Legislature approves King’s budget, highway-resurfacing and bridge-repair programs will be increased but Maine’s 19-cent per gallon gasoline tax will stay the same.

Between 1991 and 1994, the state paved 2,315 miles of Maine roads. But between 1995 and 1998, a total of 2,800 miles — a 21 percent increase — will be paved if the budget passes, King said.

Among the bridge projects that would benefit is the replacement for the Carleton Bridge in Bath-Woolwich. Work on a new four-lane span designed to ease traffic flow in the often-congested area is to begin this summer. Much of the project is federally funded.

Other projects covered by the budget include repairs to the Ridlonville Bridge in Rumford-Mexico, painting of the Piscataqua River Bridge between Kittery and Portsmouth, N.H., and engineering studies for a third bridge across the Kennebec River in Augusta, said Transportation Commissioner John Melrose.

A more complete list of projects will be included in a report to be released in February, he said.

King said the state is able to increase bridge and highway spending because 200 Transportation Department positions were eliminated mostly through attrition during the past year.

Another factor was the partial repayment of highway funds siphoned off by nontransportation programs in recent years.

For example, taxes collected for highway improvements would no longer pay salaries of district attorneys, as they have for the last six years, and would pay a smaller share of state police expenses.

King also wants to float two separate bond issues to raise $70 million for highway and bridge programs as part of his package. Of the total, about $30 million in bonds would be retired from nontransportation funds to help “square the books,” King said.

Revenues to the highway fund are expected to decline by $11 million, to $430 million, during the next two-year budget cycle, which starts in July.

Even though there has been a “tremendous” increase in total miles driven on Maine roads, increased efficiency of newer engines that deliver better gas mileage has cut the tax revenues paid at fuel pumps, said King.

The 19 cents per gallon is about average for the nation, but nearly 4 cents below New England’s average, the governor said.

Mainers pay 4.3 cents per gallon in federal gasoline taxes, but King said millions of dollars owed to the state has never been returned. Since 1993, $30 million per year in federal gas taxes paid in Maine have instead gone to federal deficit reduction, said King.

“In the last decade the federal government has diverted from transportation purposes $142 million in fuel taxes paid in Maine,” said King.