R.I.P. Rest Areas

At midnight, several rest stops throughout Virginia will be closed due to the impending budget crisis.  Too bad, if you need to pull over to take a stretch break on a road trip.  I guess this will begin to bring about more car accidents due to driver fatigue.   However, there were other solutions other than closing rest stops, as State Senator Mark Obenshain and Delegate Todd Gilbert have called for an outside audit of VDOT, which would have found better targets for elimination.

Since Congressman Frank Wolf’s request to allow privatization of rest areas throughout Virginia was rejected, other officials have sounded off about this, including Bob McDonnell and Bill Bolling.  McDonnell has pledged to re-open all of these rest stops within 90 days of taking office in January.

McDonnell has pledged the following:

* The immediate creation of an “Adopt a Safety Rest Stop” program with Virginia businesses, community and civic organizations, modeled on the successful “Adopt a Highway” initiative, to help keep the safety rest stops open in the near term, without providing commercial services. Leaders of the Virginia Business Council have already been contacted and have indicated their willingness to help fund rest stop operations in the near term to help the State.

• The General Assembly must explore creative financing structures to fund rest stop operations and maintenance during the 2010 session, and engage the private sector in new partnerships.
• Governor Kaine and the Virginia Department of Transportation should promptly construct a more limited budget for rest stop operations, below the current 9 million dollar annual budget. We must work with local sheriffs, community corrections officers, as well as the state DOC to explore the feasibility of landscaping and clean-up of rest areas as an option for those currently sentenced to community service or eligible for work release programs. Many non-violent offenders are already successfully assigned to roadside clean-up work crews around the state.
• The CTB budget should be reprioritized to allocate the necessary money to keep the rest stops open.

Bolling has requested that VDOT check their priorities to find the money to keep the rest stops open, in order to keep the highways safe.

“I certainly understand that these are challenging economic times for VDOT and other state agencies,” said Bolling. “However, I am concerned that the closure of these rest stops will eliminate safe, convenient opportunities for motorists to rest; make our highways more dangerous; damage Virginia’s tourism and hospitality industry; put more than 200 Virginians out of work; and increase congestion on secondary roads and at gas stations and restaurants near highways.”

Here’s hoping the Rest Areas will re-open bringing more jobs through allowing businesses to take over the operations and generate more funds for Virginia.