VDOT job cuts hit construction and planning

Layoff notices that started going to about 600 Virginia Department of Transportation employees yesterday primarily affect those who do the work that has been hardest hit by the agency's budget crunch: construction and planning.

Faced with a $2.6 billion revenue shortfall, VDOT has cut about $2 billion in road building from its six-year plan, canceling or delaying 800 projects. The job cuts mostly affect full-time employees whose work is tied to those projects, such as surveying, plan inspection, environmental processing and right-of-way acquisition.

"The decision we made was a business decision that we need to downscale the work force that would have been actively engaged in delivering a construction program that we no longer have," VDOT Commissioner David S. Ekern said in a conference call with reporters.

As of May 1, the agency had 8,239 employees. VDOT officials stressed that the layoffs will not affect safety-related work such as clearing snow from roads or repairing potholes.

"Our primary focus is to ensure that we retain emergency response capacity and capability within the commonwealth," Ekern said. "The reductions that are being felt are on the construction side and on the project development side."

Ekern said VDOT will try to reassign many of the affected employees to other jobs. He estimated that half of the 600 could find jobs within VDOT or other state agencies.

The job cuts will take effect Sept. 9 if an employee opts not to receive placement services, and on Oct. 24 if they do seek another state job but cannot be placed in one.

"We do have current vacancies across the department that have been held for this eventuality," Ekern said. "We are also ensuring that these employees have first right to any job within the department on our maintenance and operations side."

More job cuts may be on the way this year and early next year. VDOT announced last year that it would cut 1,000 full-time positions and 450 part-time ones to reduce the agency to 7,500 full-time positions by July 1, 2010. The 450 part-time jobs were eliminated in June.

All nine of VDOT's highway districts in Virginia will lose employees. About 70 positions are being cut in its Richmond district operations, which covers 14 counties and employed 987 people as of May 1. Another 82 jobs are being eliminated at the agency's central office operations, mostly in Richmond.

Statewide, VDOT also is closing 36 of its equipment shops over the next few months, while leaving 37 open. The equipment shops are where VDOT's fleet of vehicles are maintained. Two of the seven equipment shops in the Richmond district will be closed, in Petersburg and Chesterfield County.

The job reductions also are aimed at helping VDOT cut $391 million in administrative and support costs and $348 million from maintenance programs such as grass cutting over the next six years.

VDOT already has closed 18 of the state's highway rest areas. One other, the Manassas Welcome Center on Interstate 66, will close in September. The Commonwealth Transportation Board decided in June to reduce the number of interstate rest areas from 42 to 23 to save an estimated $8.6 million this year.

Contact John Reid Blackwell at (804) 775-8123 or .