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Will closing rest stops be a trend?
If you're driving through Virginia struggling to stay awake or needing some bladder relief, bear in mind that almost half the rest stops are now closed due to budget cuts. Jeremy Korzeniewski pointed that out at Autoblog.
As a person fond of rest stops, I think it's a darned shame that they're possibly becoming something of the past. If you know anything about the history of the interstate highway system, you know that rest stops factored into the system's growth and safety. They helped entice motorists to travel.
Perhaps, Virginia has grown dense enough with commercial businesses that there are enough truck stops, fast food establishments and gas stations with their quick eats that rest stops aren't so needed.
I know of other states, Ohio being one, where there are enough stretches of highway between toilets that if there wasn't a rest stop, our son would be making yellow snow in the winter and watering weeds at other times of the year. Of course, if you're out west there are stretches of highway with not a car in sight. In that case, if you gotta go, you gotta go. For modesty sake, consider the portable toilet..
Catherine wrote about the portable toilet some time ago. Perhaps she saw this day coming.
Here's another point about those rest stops. What about all those tourist brochures advertising those attractions that only get face time once you cross into a state's borders? Perhaps McDonald's and Burger King's play lands could have racks of brochures for parents and caregivers looking for something to do while their kids are burning off steam.
I'm also wondering about those trucks that make a person nervous every time they weave ever so slightly? What happens if those trucks don't have adequate places to pull to the side of the road. How much do wrecks cost a state?
Filed under: Business, Gear, Transportation, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sarah Jul 24th 2009 5:00PM
Here in the UK we have service stations on the motorways, some are situated just off the junctions (exits to you) that're there anyway and others have their own exits. Outside of cities there's usually a fairly long distance between junctions, so there's plenty of room for them.
Most service stations consist of a couple of large (free, up to 4 or 5 hours) car parks (one for cars and one for HGVs and coaches), a petrol (gas) station and a large central building. This building typically contains toilets, a couple of fast food outlets, a self-service restaurant, maybe a coffee shop, maybe an arcade, and an overpriced shop selling magazines, sweets, drinks, a few toiletries, maps and assorted junk. Some service stations also have a travelodge/chain hotel attached.
Generally where there's a service station on one side of the motorway there is one on the other (eg Reading West and Reading East on either side of the M4).
I don't know who owns this land, but it seems likely to me that it's owned by the government and rented by the services management chains (Moto, Welcome Break and Roadchef), although they might own them themselves. Needs a bit of investigation.