UPDATED at 5:10 p.m.

MoDot's St. Louis District Engineer Ed Hassinger stressed in an afternoon news conference that the driving public will not see a reduction in essential services, such as snow plowing. 

The money saved from job cuts and the consolidaton of the state's 10 district service areas, he said, "will be put directly on the road."

But Hassinger said it may be five years if not longer  before MoDot oversees major bridge and roadway construction.

Projects already in the pipeline, such as the new bridge spanning the Mississippi River at St. Louis  and renovations to the Blanchette Bridge connecting St. Louis County to St. Charles County along Interstate 70 will not be interrupted, Hassinger said. 

Earlier: 

Missouri Department of Transportation Wednesday presented a draconian four-year restructuring plan that calls for the termination of 1,200 jobs and the closing of 134 garages and other facilities across the state.

"We are facing a transportation funding crisis in Missouri," MoDOT Director Kevin Keith said in the press release announcing the restructuring. "Over the past year, we have worked hard to reduce the size of our workforce and cut costs, but it isn't enough.  We must take further action to become the right size to serve our customers given the severe reduction in funding for transportation."

Under the proposal, funding for highway construction projects - which averaged $1.2 billion annually since 2006 - would drop to approximately $600 million per year.

The restructuring, scheduled to roll out between now and 2015, would reduce the number of statewide district offices from 10 to seven..

Transportation district boundaries, which agency officials say have been existence 1922, are also scheduled to be redrawn.

MoDot officials called the $512 million savings proposal a necessary response to a drastic reductions in state and matching federal transportation funding.

The state Highways and Transportation Commission will act on the recommendations.

MoDot said it hopes to reduce staff through attrition and transfers.The agency emphasized that layoffs will unfold only as a "last step."

"We asked the director to put forth a bold plan of action to address our transportation funding crisis, and he delivered," Commission Chair Grace Nichols of St. Charles said in the agency release. "We don't like having to head in this direction, but the reality of our funding situation makes it necessary."

In addition to jobs and facilities, MoDot intends to unload 740 pieces of equipment over the next four years.