Rest Areas Issue (SC & GA)

There are rest areas specifically for trucks as they tend to overfill the regular areas creating dangerous situations where a driver can't see what may be merging because the vie is blocked by a tractor-trailer combination.

The situation of overcrowding has gotten worse over the past few years because of changes to the laws governing commercial truckers and limits on their hours of service.

Or a way the maintainer might identify and flag these specific locations as commercial trucks only? That way the file would be usable for nearly any driver as many GPSr (at least Garmin) models display additional info on the screen.

So you are saying that is is NORMAL for Rest Areas to contain Truck Weigh Stations and "Commercial Vehicle Only" rest areas?

I would think that Truck Weigh Stations and "Commercial Vehicle Only" rest areas should belong in an altogether different POI.... Actually 2 different POI's and Weigh Stations don't usually have rest areas...

Been using this POI for years, and this is the first time I've encountered Truck Weigh Stations and "Commercial Vehicle Only" Rest Areas being Flagged this way....

Did a change in this POI occur?

Weigh stations should not be included in a Rest Area POI, but the truck rest areas do have a place. In many areas there are maintenance and inspection areas within the weigh station for the big rigs and some states have started allowing them to be used as rest areas for truckers when the weigh station is not manned. But rest areas, no, they are not and should not be identified as such. The number of trucks on our highways has increased dramatically in the past 15 years and with so many trucks each requiring a space of about 100 feet long by 12 to 15 feet wide when parked has led to a major shortage of areas where they can stop for their required rest periods.

Most rest areas seem to have provisions for commercial vehicles, but there are some rest areas that are ONLY for commercial vehicles. A totally separate POI for commercial vehicles would include most of the rest areas that are already in the Rest Areas Combined file. It would mean that someone would have to maintain another file.

I don't know if it's necessary to indicate if a rest area is "Commercial Only" or if it's "No Commercial Vehicles Allowed". Doing so adds another complication to the file for maintenance purposes. The signage ahead of the rest area will likely indicate both commercial and non-commercial of any special restrictions. The highway department does not want an 18 wheeler trying to pull into a Rest Area that cannot handle one.

When I get a notification of a rest area, I don't feel that I can safely take my eyes off the road long enough to read all the data on the screen.

I do agree that Weigh Stations should not be included. There is a Discussion Thread specific to Weigh Stations. http://www.poi-factory.com/node/893

The signs for "Commercial Vehicle Only" Rest Areas we saw on I95 last week also indicated that there were NO SERVICES... Which I believe means that there are no toilets... Correct? (Don't know -- we didn't go in!)

If so, I again suggest that they be removed.. As the Wife said a couple times in the past couple weeks:
"Why Flag a Rest Area that has no toilets, and doesn't allow cars?"

First I have been in a few rest areas that were weight stations and rest areas. Second even if there are not services at a rest area that's what it means rest area. Stop for a small rest. I think we should have all in one place nothing says you need to read or stop at all of them, There is also one other thing if there is an emergency in you vehicle that is a goo place to stop an wait for help/

Some very good points you have made.

As the guilty person that has caused all of this discussion, I guess that I need to add my 2 cents. john405 you are very correct. I started to add the additional areas for use by all members of the community. In addition, I felt that these could all be used in an emergency, kind of any port in a storm so to speak. I don't plan on having to use any of these, however, I felt that I would like to know of there existence and location.
I have a proposal, but it requires some work by members that use this file apparently I believe as a continous alert. I have used this file numerous times in the past to locate a rest area when needed. My proposal is this. Leave the truck referenced locations in the file. I can put these locations at the end of the file. Members that use the file that are having a problem with the alerts can solve their problems in this manner. Download the file from the site. Using a program such as excel, open the file and just delete the locations that are giving them the problem. When I upload an updated file,I can give a line item after which they can delete the unwanted locations. Than they can save that new file for loading onto their gps.
By the way, if anyone else would like to volunteer for maintaing this file, I can probably be persuaded.

I just thought of another point. The format that I am using in column D allows sorting on what is available at each location. If a member only wants those locations that have a potty, they can again use the program excel and sort just on those locations that have a potty available. I don't guarantee 100 percent accuracy, one may have to hold it a little longer.

Manoney, you are doing an outstanding job with the Rest Areas and I appreciate your work. Just keep doing what you are doing.

This is first file I download when I visit the US, even ahead of the Cheesecake Factory.

We'd be squirming in our seats without it. LOL

Well, my Wife totally dis-agrees.... She knows how to search for POI's and when she does so, she doesn't want to come across a rest area without services on for commercial vehicles only!

mahoney, I could easily co-exist with your suggested Column D search criteria with one cell being truck only... and I can do a search and filter via that... and everybody wins! Fantastic idea...
I agree that this is a fantastic POI... We have it set to alert at 12000 feet, before the signs even appear....

mahoney Could you kindly explain the filters in column D?

I see RR, PT, VM, RV Dump, HF

With that I'll be able to experiment.... Thank You... Jan

Those are the abbreviations that have been used for this file probably from the beginning. RR-Restrooms,PT-Picnic Tables,VM=Vending Machines, RV Dump (for people with RV's/Trailers and need to dump their holding tanks and HF=Handicap Facilities.
This is shown on the download page for the Rest Area file. Looks like you will only need to sort on RR. If I can be of any help, let me know.

Using Google Earth, I have only found 8 locations that state
Commercial Vehicles ONLY-No Cars Allowed and these happen to be in SC along I-20 amd I-95. In anyone knows of additional locations, I hope that they will send them to me.

VA I95 N&S at the 154mm 152 38.595659, -77.315429

Location: Interstate 81 North mile marker 13 Safety Rest Area: We are open 24 hours per day, 365 days a year. The facility is open only to trucks.

I64 E MM33 VA

Just of the top of my head. roadnow.com lists all the Interstates and their rest areas. m.roadnow.com lists the Truck Only sites better.

Thanks very much for maintaining the Rest Areas file.

dobs108

Yes, that is a weigh station and most if not all of them have the sign trucks only. I was referring to the signs that state "COMMERCIAL VEHICLES ONLY" that I noted above. I have put that statement in Column D for those 8 locations.

Specifically regarding Restrooms. I will be using the following:

RR Self explanatory
RR(PP) Porta Potties
RR(VT) Vault Toilets (My definition of this is a
permanent PP only larger)

For those members that like to see numbers:

My latest listing of locations for cars, which I have not uploaded yet, has a total of 2651 line items. Of this 2651,
RR 2158
RR(PP) 10
RR(VT) 33

The listing for Trucks has 75 locations, of which 23 have Restrooms listed. For REAL emergencies, members may wish that ??????????????.

I am not quite ready to upload this latest file. Kind of want to see what kind of response I get from the above.

This seems like a good place to merge this thread with the general discussion.

~Angela

Rest Areas Combined-USA Discussion