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I can imagine a scenario where the 540 toll road gets its own service/rest stop like the ones throughout the Florida Turnpike system. These rest stops keep drivers on the toll road for services that they'd otherwise have to leave. When NC540 connects to I-40 south of Raleigh, I can imagine such a service area on the new stretch.
I-85 was laid out in the late 1950s when land was cheap and rest stops were inexpensive. Newcomers to the Triangle may not realize that I-40 from Mebane to RTP was stonewalled for more than a decade by opposition in Orange County. By the time NCDOT could proceed with the project, real estate had become expensive. (The road finally opened in 1988.) The story for I-40 from Raleigh to Benson is similar; it had been on the books since the mid-1970s when the battle over destination (Wilmington or Morehead City) was finally settled. Land acquisition didn't start until the mid-1980s and the road didn't open until 1990.
Another factor in the design of the 1950's Interstates: very few cars had air conditioning at that time, and people were not accustomed to driving for hours on end without a break. Many of the small rest stops along I-85 between Alabama and Virginia were closed in the 1970s as redundant, particularly the ones that got a reputation for drug sales.
I can imagine a scenario where the 540 toll road gets its own service/rest stop like the ones throughout the Florida Turnpike system. These rest stops keep drivers on the toll road for services that they'd otherwise have to leave. When NC540 connects to I-40 south of Raleigh, I can imagine such a service area on the new stretch.
Not particularly necessary with the open road tolling...you just hop off and back on, and you're good to go. Service areas are common on traditional long-distance toll roads like the New York State Thruway because of the inconvenience of having to stop at a toll booth, count money, handle a toll card just to hop off to get some gas. The mechanics of paying the toll are invisible on NC-540, so no need for dedicated service areas. It's also not that long, even once you add the SE extension.
I can imagine a scenario where the 540 toll road gets its own service/rest stop like the ones throughout the Florida Turnpike system. These rest stops keep drivers on the toll road for services that they'd otherwise have to leave. When NC540 connects to I-40 south of Raleigh, I can imagine such a service area on the new stretch.
I-40 and I-540 carry more or less local traffic and intrastate NC motorists. I don't believe there is any need for an I-40 Triangle rest area or a I-540 travel plaza. Does Washington's Beltway have rest areas? Florida's turnpike spans a huge distance comparatively.
I meant major city in the context of North Carolina, not in the nation. Whenever I have driven across the country it seems to me that if there are rest areas (and in some western states there aren't really, or there are "rest areas, no services" which means wide place you can pull off, but no toilets) they usually are in more rural areas or near smaller towns. I haven't run into one in the middle of a city, nor would I want to stop at one there. If I don't plan to stop over in a city I'd rather drive on through and do my "resting" more out of the way of traffic.
There's a ton of rest areas on our highways. They're called Starbucks
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