No Rest Areas for the Weary

VDOT Wants You to 'Feel Their Pain'

The Virginia Department of Transportation has just announced plans to close 25 Interstate Rest Areas as a cost saving move. I wish I was making this up.

Ride up Interstate 81 in the wee [forgive me]! hours of a Monday Morning and you will see for yourself the folly of CLOSING such facilities. Many interchange ramps become 'unofficial' parking areas as drivers simply need a place to... um, ...rest! As one driver 'unoficially' pointed out, that trailer provides a pretty good privacy screen for... um, ...other needs, but its a pretty poor alternative considering the thousands these guys and ladies [professional drivers] pay in road use tax.

VDOT seems to have learned this from the Education sector, it has been pointed out on SWAC Girl and elsewhere. Your favorite Art and Music teacher get the axe first, then your aids and custodians... but tell me, when's the last time you heard of them downsizing the Central Office first? Anyhow, back to VDOT.

VDOT could take a few cues from their more sucessful projects. The Dulles Toll Road, for example, shows that market solutions can be brought to bear in high utilization scenarios. Dulles Toll Road to Virginia Route 7 is a wonderful alternative to the odd configuration of Interstate 66 during high traffic periods. If the portion of I 66 inside the beltway were to be made a toll road and 'demand' tolls charged, and let trucks on it like a real interstate, look at the profit center it could become.

Now lets look at those rest areas. Instead of closing them, why not look at developing some of them into service plazas similar to those on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Let private contractors bid for the priviledge of operating limited fuel and food service. Use concession revenues to expand parking areas and perhaps consider pay parking for periods longer than two hours.

I would imagine that many of the operators of existing travel facilities would be the winners of such concessions and would operate them as an extension of their large interchange facilities. If you remember the Pilot Travel Plaza traffic problem at the Greenville interchange this might start to sound appealing.


A truck on Interstate 81 heading North.