State Roads Dept. Whacks $512 Million in Spending, 1,200 Jobs, Closes Offices

State highway and transportation officials said this week they will move forward with cuts of $512 million, lose 1,200 jobs, close 135 offices and sell off 740 pieces of equipment.

This will also save another $117 million annually, officials said.

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission approved the  (MoDOT) plan to downsize Wednesday, after MoDOT presented the plan to the commission on May 4.

MoDOT Director Kevin Keith said these cuts are a result of a transportation funding crisis and the money the department is saving will go to necessary road and bridge projects.

Linda Wilson, MoDOT's community relations manager, explained.

"Our federal and state funding for transportation has dramatically declined. In fact, we have half of the funding now that we've had for the last for five years, for a variety of reasons," Wilson said. "That's why we are implementing this new plan. We are not saving to save. It's so we can put the money toward roads and bridges."

The deadline to reduce MoDOT's staff by 1,200 was extended to March 31, 2013—three months longer than the initial proposal.

"What that extension allows for is three more months of our numbers to reduce through attrition," Wilson said. "And hopefully by then, we'll have fewer numbers that we have to lay off."

The job cuts will affect the St. Louis area, but MoDOT will not know by how much until March 2013.

"We typically lose about 450 employees each year just through general attrition. Folks retire, find a new job, get fired, so we're still going to have to do layoffs, but it won't be as many," Wilson said.

The current plan is simply not rehiring for positions as people leave and doing more with less.

"We already started this in March 2010, so we've already reduced employee numbers by 403. So we have just under 800 to go by 2013," Wilson said. "We are making internal changes for internal efficiencies by moving people around to where they are most needed."

Facilities across the state will close, but MoDOT's St. Louis Metro Office will remain in the city of Town and Country. That office will continue to cover St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin counties, and the City of St. Louis.

MoDOT will reduce 10 district offices to seven, closing Macon, Joplin and Willow Springs over the next year-and-a-half. MoDOT is working with those cities to see how the buildings can be best used.

Since Joplin lost four schools in a , MoDOT is talking with school officials about using the MoDOT facility for students in the coming school year.

"We have just started this conversation. This is not set," Wilson said.

Click here to see more details of MoDOT's plan.

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