MoDOT to host meeting this afternoon on cost-cutting plan

The Missouri Department of Transportation will kick off a series of "community briefings" on its cost-cutting plan today in Cape Girardeau.

MoDOT leadership has identified budget cuts as federal stimulus funds dry up, including in Cape Girardeau County, where a maintenance facility and its crew of four to five employees in Delta would be shut down, leaving the county with two maintenance buildings, Mark Shelton, district engineer for MoDOT's Southeast District, told the Southeast Missourian last week. A maintenance facility in Perry County also would be closed, affecting five or six employees.

Proposed projects would also be put on hold under the plan.

Today's meeting will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Osage Centre.

Other meetings include:

* May 17 - Dexter High School Auditorium, Dexter, Mo.

* May 18 - Perry Park Center, Perryville, Mo.

* May 19 - Farmington Civic Center, Farmington, Mo.

* May 26 - Malden High School Cafeteria, Malden, Mo.

* June 1 - Poplar Bluff Chamber of Commerce, Poplar Bluff, Mo.

* June 2 - MoDOT Southeast District Office, Sikeston, Mo.

All meetings will be from 4 to 6 p.m.

The plan will also reduce the number of district offices throughout the state. A map showing proposed districts can be found at www.modot.org/southeast.