Virginia to cut almost 1,500 transportation workers

The Virginia Department of Transportation said Thursday it plans to lay off 1,450 employees as one step in a broad-based shift from building new highways to maintaining those it has.

They also are proposing to reduce services for motorists that includes shuttering 25 of the state’s 41 rest stops, reducing the schedules of four ferries to save $2 million and trimming mowing costs in half by changing the grass-cutting standards. This all comes on top of $2 billion in cuts made last week to projects that were part of the state’s six-year transportation plan.