r - Assigning widths to string fields using writeOGR() from rgdal?

I am currently working with MapInfo files in the .tab format. I am using R (3.1.0 for Windows) to read and write files in this format, however, I am encountering an issue with writeOGR() from the rgdal package. When I write a MapInfo file in the .tab format, all the string fields are being assigned a width of 254 characters. This is very problematic for larger datasets with numerous string fields, as it dramatically increases the size of the output .dat file.

Below is an example:

require(rgdal)
shape <- readOGR(dsn = directory, layer = "Up")
writeOGR(obj = shape, dsn = directory, layer = "Up2", driver = "MapInfo File")

Here's an excerpt from the original Up.tab file:

!table
!version 300
!charset WindowsLatin1

Definition Table
  Type NATIVE Charset "WindowsLatin1"
  Fields 52
    ID Integer Index 1 ;

    unid_planejamento Char (4) ;
    codigo2 Char (4) ;
    descricao Char (100) ;

And one from my modified Up2.tab file:

!table
!version 300
!charset Neutral

Definition Table

  Type NATIVE Charset "Neutral"
  Fields 52
    ID Integer ;
    unid_planejamento Char (254) ;
    codigo2 Char (254) ;
    descricao Char (254) ;

Note that all the string fields have now been assigned a width of 254 characters. I should also note that the .dat file has gone from 43KB to 93KB.

I understand there are some creation issues when writing MapInfo files, however, it is not clear to me whether or not this can be resolved by somehow controlling the string field width.

I have searched for ways to do so using dataset_options and layer_options, but have not been successful.

Is there a way of controlling the string field width using writeOGR()? And if not, is there a way of using R to write a new .dat file (from my understanding, this is a dBase III DBF file) with the appropriate string widths?