A realignment to the Missouri Department of Transportation's (MoDOT) proposed new district boundaries will keep Warren County in the Northeast District. As part of a statewide restructuring plan adopted last week, boundaries were readjusted to better balance MoDOT's workload and coordinate with regional planning commission boundaries, officials said. Under last month's proposal, Warren County was to be joined by Lincoln County in being assigned to the St. Louis District, which is comprised of Franklin, St. Charles, St. Louis and Jefferson counties and St. Louis city. Instead, Warren, Lincoln and Montgomery counties will now remain as part of the Northeast District, where its home office is in Hannibal. The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission last Wednesday adopted a new plan that will look to reduce the stage agency's staff by 1,200, close 135 facilities and sell more than 740 pieces of equipment. The restructuring will be implemented immediately with full implementation by March 2013. The department's plan includes reducing the number of districts, from 10 to seven. That move eliminates offices in Macon, Joplin and Willow Springs. The seven new districts have been redrawn to cover larger geographic areas of the state. Prior to last week's approval, the locations of the MoDOT district offices had not changed since the 1920s when most of the roads were gravel. The lone facility closure in the area is the Cappeln road shed, located on Highway T in St. Charles County. The facility is responsible for maintenance and projects in the southern portion of the county. Staff will be relocated to other maintenance sheds, including the Warrenton facility. The changes are needed, MoDOT officials say, because funding has dropped from $1.2 billion during recent years to $600 million a year for each of the next five years. The new plan will focus on maintaining existing roads and bridges and starting fewer new projects. Following the closure of the Macon office, the Hannibal district will now be overseeing 17 counties, including the addition of four counties to the west. Those counties include Schuyler, Adair, Macon and Randolph. Though he was fine with the possibility of Warren County being assigned to the St. Louis District, Steve Etcher, Boonslick Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) executive director, was glad that all three counties BRPC serves remain together and in its current district. Besides Warren, BRPC assists Lincoln and Montgomery counties. Under last month's proposal, Montgomery County was to be shifted to the Central District, where its main office is located in Jefferson City. "It will be business as usual," Etcher said. "We have great relationships set up. They know our region very well. I am very pleased with the outcome." The Warren County Commission was glad to see the county remain in the same district, though it had some concerns about being in a larger district and having more competition for transportation funds. Presiding Commissioner Arden Engelage, however, added that maybe Warren County's larger population compared to other counties in the district could help local projects remain a priority. "We can keep our relationships with people we know," Engelage said. "That is a plus." MoDOT said the restructuring will save $512 million, with the savings coming from reduced salaries and benefits, facility and equipment costs. Revenue would be generated from the sale of facilities and equipment. As of April 15, MoDOT had reduced its work force by 340 employees and saved $64 million that has been put back to roads and bridges. The staff reduction will occur through attrition and transfers. The last step, MoDOT officials said, would be layoffs. Most of the staffing reduction will be in supervisory and middle management positions, officials said. MoDOT held 115 community briefings on the new plan throughout the state last month, including one held in Warrenton on May 10. From there, officials used the feedback they received to make any changes to the initial proposal. Besides adjusting the boundaries to keep the areas served by the state's 23 regional planning commissions together, the approved plan extended the date to make staffing changes by three months from Dec. 31, 2012, to March 31, 2013, to allow more time for attrition and transfers to achieve employee reductions and a few changes to the facilities that are remaining open or will be closed.