Area citizens and officials spoke out Tuesday night against the Virginia Department of Transportation's plans to consolidate.

VDOT is consolidating 12 headquarters around the state, including in Rockingham County.

The areas will no longer be staffed, but will still be storage for equipment and supplies.

VDOT says it's taking the step to save money.

VDOT officials held a public hearing about the consolidation of the Chimney Rock headquarters in Northern Rockingham County.

About 200 people packed into the Rockingham County Administration center to speak to officials against the plans.

People say that keeping the Chimney Rock Office open is critical for their safety and well-being.

It was standing room only in the Rockingham County Administration Center.

State and local officials as well as citizens like Anna Lantz asked VDOT not to close the chimney rock office.

Lantz is a volunteer with the Bergton Fire Department, and says without the local office she couldn't do her job when harsh winter weather strikes.

"When we have an emergency situation, we depend on them. We've had times when they've actually come and opened up the roads for us so we can get to our patients or whatever the need might be," says Lantz.

The main complaint from people is that workers will have to drive from the Mauzy office to the Chimeny Rock headquarters.

Rockingham County Board of Supervisor's Chair Pablo Cuevas says that response time is critical for schools, businesses and people's safety.

"The weather up there has been so much harder and tough to handle for safety reasons then any other part of the county and its important that we have the proximity of service for that area," says Cuevas.

VDOT Commissioner David Ekern says that the consolidation isn't final, and that all the speakers will help them make their decision.

"Citizen input, elected official input is important to us as we listen and make sense around where we go next trying to stretch the public dollars as far as we can stretch them," says Ekern.

According to the commissioner, he'll be touring the other locations targeted for consolidation around the state to hear input from them.

VDOT's final plan is due December 15th, and wouldn't go into effect until after this winter.