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I was on the way back to TN from NC Saturday and stopped at a public rest area around 7. When I pulled in, there was no one there, and the facility was obviously new and likely fairly expensive to maintain. There is a similar rest area on the NC side or the border that is also very new and well-kept but seldom used. When I thought about it, I've rarely seen rest areas populated by anyone except people walking animals.
Each of these facilities require cleaning staff, electricity, water, landscaping, maintenance, etc, and must be reasonably costly to maintain. Today we have fast food restaurants and gas stations on many exits open 24 hours for people to use the bathroom and stretch their legs at. Is the old rest stop system a holdover when the interstates were first opened and there were fewer places to stop and outlived its usefulness today?
All the rest stops I've ever visited were well used. People stop to use the restroom, walk around for awhile, smoke a cigarette, some of the nicer ones have diners, shops, and vending machines. Truckers stop and sleep etc....
No, I say keep the rest stops, even though I don't particularly like stopping and using them especially when there are only a few people there. If I were a psycho serial killer/rapist, that is where I would "hunt"... Maybe that's just an irrational fear of mine though.
lol I remember stopping at a rest area in West Virginia once. It was right at the bottom of some heavily wooded mountains tucked in between like.... a cove. There was also a restaurant and the smoke from the meat they were grilling just billowed up in to the mountains and woods like you wouldn't believe. I can remember thinking I wanted to get back on the road ASAP because it was just a matter of time before a bear came looking for whatever was cooking.
Without fail, every time I have had to use a gas station restroom while commuting or on a road trip, it was out of order. Bad luck, or is something else at play here?
Seeing as how I travel out of town at least once to twice a month, I am grateful for rest areas. When I start getting a tired, I just find one and take a 45-minute to an hour power nap and I'm good to go. They're wonderful for that. They're also great for having CLEAN heated/cooled bathrooms, even at 5am.
^A few rest stops along I-75 in Ohio have walking trails along the back edges of the property; not long, but a welcome feature when you've been on the road awhile.
There is one like that heading westbound on Ohio Rt 2 once you cross from Lorain County into Erie County. We used to always stop there to use the restroom on our way up to Cedar Point back in the day. We walked the trails. It was actually very scenic.
I was on the way back to TN from NC Saturday and stopped at a public rest area around 7. When I pulled in, there was no one there, and the facility was obviously new and likely fairly expensive to maintain. There is a similar rest area on the NC side or the border that is also very new and well-kept but seldom used. When I thought about it, I've rarely seen rest areas populated by anyone except people walking animals.
Each of these facilities require cleaning staff, electricity, water, landscaping, maintenance, etc, and must be reasonably costly to maintain. Today we have fast food restaurants and gas stations on many exits open 24 hours for people to use the bathroom and stretch their legs at. Is the old rest stop system a holdover when the interstates were first opened and there were fewer places to stop and outlived its usefulness today?
Why not privatize them as concessions with restaurants etc? The Ohio Turnpike is a toll road with mileage-based tolls and private amenities (restaurants etc) along the way.
You stop and get a time-stamped ticket when you enter, and present the ticket when you exit and pay your toll. I always planned a meal break when driving through Ohio in order to keep my average speed below the speed limit.
So the Ohio turnpike has rest areas that are privately operated.
I do a lot of road trips and I am grateful for the rest stops. In AZ they are well used. There are only three between Flagstaff and Tucson and they are always busy. There are no restaurants or gas stations near any of them. Except for the one near Casa Grande but that rest stop is always busy too. Some of the nicest ones I've stopped at were in Oregon but the ones we have here are pretty nice too.
agreed. for fourteen years i traveled from arizona to various national parks for work, and back, and i was grateful from public rest stops along the way. its rare to find fast food places between population centers, and sometimes you just need to stop at a point 60 miles away from everything, and its nice to have facilities when you have to make that stop.
I was on the way back to TN from NC Saturday and stopped at a public rest area around 7. When I pulled in, there was no one there, and the facility was obviously new and likely fairly expensive to maintain. There is a similar rest area on the NC side or the border that is also very new and well-kept but seldom used. When I thought about it, I've rarely seen rest areas populated by anyone except people walking animals.
Each of these facilities require cleaning staff, electricity, water, landscaping, maintenance, etc, and must be reasonably costly to maintain. Today we have fast food restaurants and gas stations on many exits open 24 hours for people to use the bathroom and stretch their legs at. Is the old rest stop system a holdover when the interstates were first opened and there were fewer places to stop and outlived its usefulness today?
1. Intended consequences - As someone else said, check back in June. We lived in Tennessee and know how much they are used by travelers during tourist season.
2. Unintended consequences - My husband retired as a cop not far from where you are located. Public rest stops are used quite a bit by hookers and gays looking to hook up.
Oh yeah, and the one heading east from Nashville and not far from Chatt (next to the lake) is one of the prettiest I have ever stopped at. Nice park area, beautiful mountain and lake scenery, fish jumping out of the water. Great rest area.
If you pulled up to a McDonald's and went to sleep for a few hours, they'd probably call the police.
I've successfully slept in my car in Walmart and Target parking lots, as well as parked on a side street right off of Times Square (I heard some drunk young people hanging out in front of a building comment on me, but they didn't do anything, and I woke up refreshed at 9 in the morning). The only time I've been asked by security to leave while sleeping was not in my car but on the comfy chairs in my university's library.
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