AUGUSTA – Maine has the 13th-worst percentage of deficient bridges in the United States, and it would take $500 million in spending to replace the worst of them, according to a transportation advocacy group.

The Maine Better Transportation Association issued a statement Wednesday citing Federal Highway Administration figures on the status of bridges after the collapse of a span in Minneapolis last week.

The MBTA said 343 of the state’s 2,380 bridges more than 20 feet long, or 14.4 percent, are in need of repair or replacement. Only 8.7 percent of Minnesota’s bridges were similarly in need of work, according to the Federal Highway Administration analysis, MBTA said.

Herb Thomson, spokesman for Maine Department of Transportation, said Wednesday that MBTA’s numbers appeared to be accurate. DOT maintains 239 of the 343 bridges cited as being structurally deficient, he said. The remainder are maintained by municipalities, railroads or the Maine Turnpike Authority.

And Thomson noted that DOT has not taken a passive approach to the condition of Maine’s bridges. During the last legislative session, DOT reported to the Transportation Committee that 288 bridges need to be repaired or replaced in the next 10 years or face closure or posting for weight limits.

Thomson said 27 of those bridges are included in DOT’s current two-year repair plan, and work on 17 more is being engineered.

But MBTA sounds the alarm over the age of Maine’s bridges, and the lack of funds earmarked for their repair or replacement.

Citing DOT data, MBTA notes that 191 of the state’s bridges and minor spans are more than 80 years old, and 48 are more than 90 years old.

“These bridges were designed to last 50 years,” the statement said.

Maria Fuentes, MBTA’s executive director, called the risk significant.

“If you look at the age of our bridges and the numbers involved, the safety risk is significant here in Maine,” she said. The real challenge will be in securing the funding to fix the bridges, she noted in the statement.

The MBTA urged Gov. John Baldacci and the Legislature to address what it sees as a transportation funding crisis.

“We know that it will take about $500 million in today’s dollars to replace these aging bridges, and if we wait, it will cost even more,” Fuentes said.

The MBTA asserts that Maine should replace or repair 40 bridges each year over the next 10 years to address the problem. The DOT’s current plans call for replacing just 14 bridges each year, according to the statement.