STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Jeff Meeks gathers some belongings and supplies from the VDOT repair shop in Rocky Mount, which is closing today.

ROCKY MOUNT -- In a bid to save money but not sacrifice service or safety, the state Department of Transportation is slated today to finalize the closure of most of the region's equipment repair shops.

The agency is cutting back from 13 maintenance and repair shops to four across a 12-county area covering the Roanoke and New River valleys and adjacent communities.

Of the nine closings, four of the Salem District's equipment shops closed last month, with the remaining set to close today. The nine are one-fourth of the equipment shops closing statewide.

State highway officials have also decided to operate with a smaller staff of equipment repair experts.

The ranks of mechanics, called technicians, will fall from 46 to 33 as officials close the bay doors on equipment shops in such places as Christiansburg, Pearisburg and Rocky Mount. The ranks of equipment shop supervisors will fall from 13 to four.

Those losing their jobs agreed to leave voluntarily with severance benefits and no one was laid off, officials said.

VDOT is being hit by the same recession-driven budget cuts forcing hard choices at government offices across the state and nation.

The agency is closing equipment shops for an expected savings of $3.6 million a year.

For comparison, the well-publicized closing of about half of the state's interstate rest areas earlier this year is designed to save about three times that amount.

Unlike the closing of rest stops, however, which detoured motorists to restaurants and truck stops, nearly all the work of the equipment shops must still be done.

The road system the state is responsible for -- about 9,750 miles in the Salem District -- isn't getting smaller. In fact, each time a new subdivision is built, VDOT has another road to maintain.

VDOT has hired a private company to take care of the largest roads such as Interstates 81 and 581 and parts of U.S. 460 -- a total of 105 miles. That leaves VDOT the rest.

But VDOT spokesman Jason Bond said area residents should not notice any reduction in service related directly to the decision to operate with just four equipment shops. They should not notice fewer snowplows on the roads, for instance, Bond said.

An agency management official echoed that sentiment, while one rank-and-file employee raised concerns.

"We're going to have to do more outsourcing. Where is it going to save taxpayer dollars?" asked Jeff Meeks, 40, of Glade Hill, an equipment shop mechanic in Rocky Mount who is being shifted to a roving repair vehicle after that facility closes today.

The public may notice effects, he said. Holding out his hand toward his knee, he said "this much snow" will test whether VDOT can perform as well as it has in the past in an emergency.

He said he has his doubts.

Meeks predicted a big increase in "down time" -- a measure of the time equipment is out of service.

In the Salem District, VDOT has a fleet of nearly 1,000 road vehicles -- motor graders, dump trucks, plows, large mowers and the like -- and owns about 3,000 other devices, such as chain saws, push mowers and forklifts.

Jim Brewbaker, the district's equipment manager, said the agency intends to rely to a greater degree on outsourcing -- paying for services in the private sector.

He said the private sector can perform some service and repair tasks more cheaply than the state. In other cases, VDOT can do it more cheaply. He said outsourcing will be done with cost efficiency in mind.

In addition, VDOT intends to rely to a greater degree on roving repair personnel who operate from heavy duty pickups stocked with tools.

They will be based at the remaining equipment shops, which will be able to receive disabled equipment and repair it or send out a service truck. The shops are spread out so that virtually every stretch of road in the district is within a one-hour drive of an equipment shop, Bond said.

Asked whether equipment turnaround time will suffer, Brewbaker said, "our goal is to keep it the same. Realistically, we'll know if we reach that goal as time moves forward and we see how successful we are."

Fortunately, Brewbaker said, the equipment repair division will have a slightly smaller workload going forward. For one thing, VDOT intends to cut back on vehicle care performed for other state agencies at cost.

But, more significantly, previously announced reductions in highway maintenance -- another aspect of the budget-cutting plan that is responsible for such things as longer grass along roads -- means less wear and tear on equipment can be expected. That should lessen the need for equipment servicing and repairs generally, he said.

In addition, VDOT is getting rid of some equipment it no longer needs and owns some newer equipment that holds up better with less frequent service.

As a backup plan, VDOT can rent equipment, he added.