The state Department of Transportation will be moving between 80 and 90 employees to the old Bank of North Dakota building this summer while their headquarters undergoes an asbestos removal project.

Transportation department spokeswoman Peggy Anderson said the employees would be moving in August or September and would return when the work is done in the spring of 2009.

All affected employees work in the planning design and bridge divisions on the building's fourth floor, she said.

The DOT building on the state Capitol campus is 40 years old, and the cleanup effort is to mitigate any danger from asbestos used in its original construction.

Located at East Main and Seventh Street, the old bank building has been vacant since January, when bank employees moved to their newly-constructed headquarters. The bank is attempting to sell the old building.