North Carolina DMV’s mobile units are headed back to Belhaven.

The state agency announced last week that the driver’s license office on wheels will make its first return appearance on Sept. 12, and will offer its services each month, on Friday of the second full week of the month.

For the DMV, the return is a matter of convenience for eastern Carolina residents — especially those who face a long drive to get to the closest driver’s license office in Washington.

“The Belhaven mobile unit was brought back based on its location. It is centrally located to Washington and Hyde counties, as well as the eastern part of Beaufort County,” said Brian Smith, DMV communications manager.

The mobile units were pulled out of Belhaven in 2008. State budget cuts determined the mobile units be removed from any county with a permanent driver’s license office, according to DMV officials. But with a rebounding economy, the units are coming back to both Beaufort and Dare counties.

The 40-foot, self-contained mobile units, complete with Internet hookups, will be manned by two DMV examiners and will offer essentially the same services one can find at any driver’s license office in the state: renewals, duplicates, road tests, ids. The only exceptions are CDL road testing and motorcycle testing skills, Smith said. They will not be offered at the Belhaven site.

The office will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on each visit to Belhaven and all road tests must be completed by 3:30 p.m. the days the unit is in town. The mobile unit will be parked at 215 Main Street in Belhaven, beside the old police station and Belhaven’s museum.

“It’s a good deal for Belhaven,” said one official. “A lot of people don’t have the time to get to the office in Washington without having to take a full day off from work.”