Interstate Rest Areas are really cutting back...

 

While traveling, we are frequent visitors to interstate rest areas (thanks for the great POI, MrKenFL). This weekend we stopped at the Rest Area on I-74 Eastbound in Indiana at MM1 (Welcome to Indiana!)

The rest room sinks had no water for washing hands, which I don't think is a temporary problem since they have replaced the soap in the all soap dispensers with hand sanitizer! At least the toilets were fully functioning.

I know several states have been closing rest areas and I just wanted to share the what I thought was the latest "cost saving measure". confused

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Jan ~ Nuvi 255W

Yep

I noticed in Missouri that they had bulldozed the old structures and placed "outhouses" there instead for some of them. This was on I-35.

Daniel

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Garmin StreetPilot c580 & Nuvi 760 - Member 32160 - Traveling in Kansas

Closed Rest Area I-65

I noticed that the southbound rest area of I-65 near Clanton, Alabama was closed this weekend. Not sure if it's permanent or not. The northbound rest area in that location was open as usual.

I had the Rest Areas closed

spullis wrote:

I noticed that the southbound rest area of I-65 near Clanton, Alabama was closed this weekend. Not sure if it's permanent or not. The northbound rest area in that location was open as usual.

In the latest version of Rest Areas Combined (Ver.P) I had both NB & SB rest areas closed. This was from input from another user.

If you are sure the NB is open agin I will make the change for the next update.

I also will research via AL DOT sites.

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MrKenFL- "Money can't buy you happiness .. But it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery." NUVI 260, Nuvi 1490LMT & Nuvi 2595LMT all with 2014.4 maps !

I traveled to Richmond VA a

I traveled to Richmond VA a couple of weeks ago and after I crossed the NC / VA state line only the welcome center was open. The rest stops the rest of the way was closed N bound & S bound.

All the Virginia Rest Areas

All the Virgina Rest Areas that were closed in the past few months (about 17-18 of them) were removed from the Rest Areas Combined POI file about 1 1/2 months ago. I believe in Ver.O of the file.

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MrKenFL- "Money can't buy you happiness .. But it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery." NUVI 260, Nuvi 1490LMT & Nuvi 2595LMT all with 2014.4 maps !

Az now

Arizona is now going to close most of thier rest area by the end of the month.

AZ closures

The closure of the Rest Areas in AZ are already in the latest update of the Rest Areas Combined file.
Ver.R

They are still in the file but show as "Temp Closed"
since that is the way AZ wants to show the closures for now.

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MrKenFL- "Money can't buy you happiness .. But it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery." NUVI 260, Nuvi 1490LMT & Nuvi 2595LMT all with 2014.4 maps !

Wow

dkeane wrote:

I noticed in Missouri that they had bulldozed the old structures and placed "outhouses" there instead for some of them. This was on I-35.
Daniel

Wow, that's a bit drastic isn't it? Or do they know something about the long-term economy that the FED's not admitting? shock

--
It's about the Line- If a line can be drawn between the powers granted and the rights retained, it would seem to be the same thing, whether the latter be secured by declaring that they shall not be abridged, or that the former shall not be extended.

Rest areas

Most state governments are bleeding cash and looking to cut costs. Rest areas are expensive to maintain and are probably seen as not important to in-state voters. As word of this spreads, the race to the bottom will be on again in this venue and we can expect "free" rest areas to vanish. In their place, they'll erect cameras along the side of highways to ticket you and charge you by the minute if you pull over to take a nap or let Junior wet the weeds.

When I drove on interstate highways this summer, signs of cost-cutting on things like dead animal pickup and sign and road maintenance were everywhere.

The way things are going, in a few years, it'll be Mad Max out there.

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JMoo On

.

ken,

please do a recheck in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, i ran across more than several in these states closed or gone on my trip Elk hunting!!

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Everyday is a GREAT day :)

Right

JD4x4 wrote:
dkeane wrote:

I noticed in Missouri that they had bulldozed the old structures and placed "outhouses" there instead for some of them. This was on I-35.
Daniel

Wow, that's a bit drastic isn't it? Or do they know something about the long-term economy that the FED's not admitting? shock

When I was on the highway, vacation traffic and truck traffic was down to nothing on the interstates as compared to previous years. In September truck traffic had picked up, nothing compared to previous years. Not scientific, just my own observation. People are being very careful how they spend their money.

I think the govt is looking

I think the govt is looking at traveler numbers plus cost cutting. How many of you will go to a rest area versus a fuel station? Many of my trips are via harley davidson Motorcycle and we usually stop every two hours to stretch and fuel. WE seldom use the rest areas unless we're meeting other folks and using it for a meeting point.

Steve

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Garmin Nuvi 1450lmt

BubbaGlide may be on to something

You may be onto something here about rest area usage. I know over the years my travel patterns have changed and with a GPS they have change even more. The most frequent rest area stops now are at Welcome Centers for tourist information. The majority of other stops are at truck/travel/fast food places along the route.

The majority of rest areas I see are usually overflowing with trucks, often to the point where it's almost impossible to pull into or out of a stop easily.

Servicing rest areas is expensive, and if they are not being used as frequently, then closing them makes sense, but the loss of parking and rest areas for truckers makes it questionable.

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ɐ‾nsǝɹ Just one click away from the end of the Internet

rest areas closing ...

here's an article about rest areas closing in many states:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33917782/ns/travel-news/

VA rest areas

I was disappointed to hear that the VA rest areas are closed. I will be driving across VA over the Thanksgiving holiday.

I wonder if the are closing they to encourage drivers to stop at local businesses? When ever I stop at a business to use the rest room, I always purchase something. Even if I don't need it, I feel obligated since I used their facility.

It's ridiculous.

I attempted to stop at a preferred rest stop last week on my way to the Cape for a quik tinkle break and the darned place was closed. What's the world coming to redface

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(2) Nuvi 1450LMT + 3597LMTHD + 2557LMT + DS61LMT-S Boston MA

Ala rest area

spullis wrote:

I noticed that the southbound rest area of I-65 near Clanton, Alabama was closed this weekend. Not sure if it's permanent or not. The northbound rest area in that location was open as usual.

It is closed for renovation.

Rest area

What next?!? I thought the government was trying to convince us we were out of the recession.

Virginia Rest Areas

Hopefully the new governor will get the Virginia rest areas re-opened. You can read the attached article.

http://www.whsv.com/elections/headlines/69172842.html

Not all VA areas closed.

epc2,
Not all the VA rest areas are closed but a lot are. If they are near gas or stores, they most likely closed. Some remained opened for safety reasons such as along I-81 in the mountain areas for winter storms.

Here is a link to the map: http://virginiadot.org/news/resources/Statewide/19_SRAWC_Clo...

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Nuvi 750

Rest Areas

Actually, what will happen is that all major highways (Interstates especially) will become toll roads. The states will sell the road maintenance, etc. to private entities - can you spell out-sourcing? You will be paying for rest areas through your road tolls. Chicago just out-sourced their parking to a private firm.

I-Pass and EZ-Pass will be the new gadget that you will mount in your car along with your GPS.

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DeLorme PN-40 (hand-held); LT-40 (laptop); Garmin C330

Use Secondary Roads..!

BlueCocoon wrote:

Actually, what will happen is that all major highways (Interstates especially) will become toll roads. The states will sell the road maintenance, etc. to private entities - can you spell out-sourcing? You will be paying for rest areas through your road tolls. Chicago just out-sourced their parking to a private firm.

I-Pass and EZ-Pass will be the new gadget that you will mount in your car along with your GPS.

That may be true, but then again a portion of the driving public (like myself), will just take secondary roads to where we're going.. especially if we're NOT in that big of a hurry to get there.

Nuvi1300WTGPS

Nuvi1300WTGPS@Gmail.com

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I'm not really lost.... just temporarily misplaced!

Texas has been closing a few

Texas has been closing a few rest areas the last 2 years. I will be going to San Antonio next week and will grab the lat/lon of the 2 that have been closed to update the current file.

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(formerly known as condump) RV 770 LMT-S, Nuvi2797LMT, Nuvi765T