BATON ROUGE (AP) — The federal stimulus money that Louisiana has steered toward bridge work will replace deteriorating spans in a half dozen parishes, a contrast from many other states that are using stimulus dollars to work on bridges already in good shape.

Nearly all the $46.6 million in stimulus cash Louisiana intends to spend on bridge work is going to structures deemed deficient or obsolete by the Federal Highway Administration. But an Associated Press review of spending plans nationwide shows that nearly half the 2,500 bridges around the country to receive the stimulus cash passed federal inspections with high marks.

Only one of 16 bridges on Louisiana’s list isn’t considered deficient by federal standards.

However, Louisiana’s spending plans will only slightly chip away at a lengthy list of bridges that the federal government says are in need of repairs or are too narrow or weak to handle current traffic loads, in a swampy state dependent on bridges for travel in many areas.

The state has more than 3,900 deficient or obsolete bridges — nearly a third of the 13,320 spans in the state, according to federal data.

The Jindal administration, backed by the legislative budget committee, chose to spend 14 percent of the state’s transportation stimulus money on bridge work. That’s slightly higher than the 12 percent of bridge spending planned nationwide. Meanwhile, $275 million in Louisiana’s transportation stimulus spending is tied to interstate widenings, road repairs and repavings.

Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Secretary William Ankner said the driving criteria for stimulus projects — including bridge work — was whether they were ‘‘shovel-ready,’’ in other words able to begin quickly.