PITTSBURGH — The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation plans to spend $175 million to rehabilitate 66 substandard bridges in the greater Pittsburgh area.

PennDOT spokesman Dan Cessna says the agency spent nearly $92 million to replace five bridges, rehab six others and preserve 76 others in the same area this year.

The state-owned bridges getting attention are in Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties.

PennDOT says the spending is meant to reduce a backlog of bridge maintenance and repair in District 11. About one-third of some 1,800 state-owned bridges in the district are structurally deficient.