The  U.S. Postal Service’s mail processing center in Colorado Springs will remain open until 2014, at least, even as the service moves ahead with plans to close dozens of other centers sooner.

The Colorado Springs center, 3655 E. Fountain Blvd., employs 357 and is part of a second phase of planned closures of mail processing centers, along with centers in Salida, Durango and Alamosa, said David Rupert, a Postal Service spokesman in Denver.

The Postal Service announced Thursday it will close 140 facilities beginning this year, saying it can no longer wait for Congress to decide how to cut postal costs. Another 89 centers, including the one in the Springs, are scheduled to close beginning in 2014.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe says postal operations are too big given declining mail volume. Most of the consolidation of the 140 mail processing centers will occur next January and February, after the busy election and holiday mail season.

The Postal Service had previously planned to close 252 mail processing centers beginning this summer but was awaiting congressional action. Colorado Springs was included in that initial list.

With Congress stalled over a bill, the mail agency say it is moving forward, but now over a longer timeframe.

“It’s not as imminent as some had feared,” Rupert said of the planned closure of the Springs center.

Closing the Colorado Springs center would save $11 million annually and result in a loss of 250 jobs. Some employees are expected to transfer to new Postal Service jobs, he said.

The Postal Service plans to move the mail processing work done in Colorado Springs to Denver. Doing so would mean no more first-class overnight mail delivery in the city.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

In this Feb. 8, 2012, photo, Postmaster Maria Carrasco sorts Valentine Day cards for mailing at the Valentine Post Office in Valentine, Texas. (AP Photo/Odessa American, Albert Cesare) Photo by MBR

Albert Cesare