This Rest Area Matters!
Join the effort to preserve an underrecognized part of our transportation history by helping to document rest areas that are important to you.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation sponsored a
summer photo contest, This Place Matters,
in an effort to document places of significance all around the country. Restareahistory.org would like to see our
nation’s rest areas included among those places that are important to us. Even though the National Trust has concluded it summer contest we would like your continued help in documenting our nation's rest areas.
This is a great opportunity to make your rest area visits a little more interesting. Download the This Place Matters Sign and keep it with you for those planned and unplanned rest area stops. Please send us your pictures we will post them to our own This Rest Area Matters slideshow.
This Place Matters Home Page
www.preservationnation.org/take-action/this-place-matters/
This Place Matters Sign
www.preservationnation.org/take-action/this-place-matters/TPM-NTHP-LOGO.pdf
E-mail your This Rest Area Matters! Photos to us
This Rest Area Matters! Slide show
http://www.flickr.com/photos/restareahistory/show/
Why Rest Areas Matter
Safety rest areas are an important part of our national
transportation system and their significance is multi-fold. Dating to the late 1950s, the national safety
rest area system has been offering relief, rest and visual amusement to travelers
on Interstate Highways for 50 years. The sites were designed to provide an
oasis in unfamiliar terrain and respite from long stretches of
Closing rest areas and welcome centers is currently a growing trend in states seeking to mitigate increasing budget shortfalls. Such action threatens not only highway safety, but the historical integrity of the rest area system.
Public support is vital…and you can help
- Voice your Opinion - Express your opinions and concerns about potential closures when they are announced. Watch for a request for public comment, if one is not issued write to the department of transportation announcing the closure, a link to state DOT offices can be found at: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/webstate.htm
- Submit a Comment Card - There are often comment boxes in rest areas, when you use them, leave comments in support of keeping rest areas open and express why you feel this is important to the traveling public.
- Contact your State DOT - If you are concerned about the rest areas in your state contact the maintenance division of the department of transportation and ask about their long term plans, or merely send a letter to the department expressing your support for rest areas. It is important to express support before closures are announced, if departments of transportation know that rest areas are actively valued, they may hesitate before placing them in the expendable category.
- Letter to the Editor - Write to your local editor or the editor of a major paper in a state where closures are being announced. The issue will become more important in the public mind as more attention is given to it.
If you are interested in receiving occasional updates on rest area issues let us know at: info@restareahistory.org
Rest Areas in the News
Virginia Rest Areas to Reopen
Speaking about the unanimous vote to reopen the 18 rest stops and the West Manassas Welcome Center, Governor McDonnell noted, “I disagreed with the previous decision to close 19 Virginia rest stops and welcome centers. It negatively impacted public safety, tourism, and economic development. The darkened rest stops presented an image of a Virginia ‘closed for business.’ They left truckers and families without safe and secure areas at which they could get a break from the road, increasing the potential for accidents. Tourists traveling through the state could no longer pull over to learn about Virginia places and sites to visit. Virginians rightly recognized immediately the negative implications of that decision. Today, we have reversed it.”
Virginia's closed rest stops to reopen
http://www.appomattoxnews.com/
Virginia rest areas reopening
http://voices.washingtonpost.
Simply the Rest: New Interstate Facility to Handle Steady Stream of Travelers, Wisconsin
http://host.madison.com/wsj/
Next Stop for Wind Power: Highway Rest Areas?, Illinois
Closures and Redevelopments
As of October 13th the
Arizona Department of Transportation is “temporarily suspending” operations of
13 of 18 of its rest areas throughout the state, in response to state budgetary
constraints. The closures will be
reviewed in June at the completion of the 2009/2010 fiscal year.
ADOT Plans to Close Local Highway Rest Area
www.wickenburgsun.com/articles/2009/10/14/news/news01.txt
San Simon Rest Area One of 13 Closed by ADOT
www.willcoxrangenews.com/articles/2009/10/14/news/news07.txt
Closed
www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=11342278
ADOT Budget Cuts to Include Rest Stop and Office Closures
www.azjournal.com/news/126/ARTICLE/4434/2009-10-14.html
City of
www.plumasnews.com/news story.edi?sid=7949
New Buildings and Expanded Facilities...
www.sanluisobispo.com/news/
www.ctpost.com/default/article/Conn-to-overhaul-rest-stops-bucking-US-trend-316437.php
Subway Lands Highway Rest Area Contract: 35 Year Deal will Bring $500 Million, New Jobs to State
www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/
Rest Areas on I-85 Closed
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/20546447/detail.html
The state of
http://doa.louisiana.gov/osr/other/mjf98-65.htm
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/view/letters/6165745.html
www.truckflix.com/news_article.php?newsid=6232
www.vpr.net/news_detail/84114/
Administration Considers Closing More Roadside Rest Areas
www.rutlandherald.com/article/20090213/NEWS02/902130344/1003/NEWS02
Vermont Plan to Close Rest Areas Met Angst
www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20081217/vermont-rest-areas/
Virginia
*NEW* Virginia Rest Areas to Reopen
http://www.appomattoxnews.com/
Virginia rest areas reopening
http://voices.washingtonpost.
As of the end of the 2009 summer travel season Virginia has closed 19 of its Interstate rest areas.
The closures have generated concern over the safety of the State’s Highways, as rest areas provide important opportunities to rest and rejuvenate to weary motorists and trucker drivers. Additionally, welcome centers and safety rest areas serve as a valuable link between travelers and the state’s tourism industry. Virginia’s rest area program was developed in the mid-1960s. The state retains numerous original sites designed in a regional Colonial motif. The closures will negatively impact the historical cohesion of the state's rest area system.
Links
VDOT Turns Assets into Liabilities With its Rest Area Closureshttp://tertiumquids.blogspot.
They Have New Places to Go
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/092009/09052009/490424/index_html?page=1
Virginia Law Makers Say ‘No’ to Bill Reopening Rest Areas
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2009/Aug09/081709/082009-03.htm
Rest Area Closures to Begin July 21
http://virginiadot.org/newsroom/statewide/2009/rest_area_closures_to41490.asp
Rest Area Closures
http://www.bdtonline.com/editorials/local_story_198171923.html?keyword=topstory
Rest Area Users React to Closures
http://www.whsv.com/home/headlines/50542587.html
Final Closure Plan for 19 Virginia Rest Areas
http://www.virginiadot.org/news/resources/Statewide/19_SRAWC_Closures.pdf
State Should Rethink Rest-Stop Closures, AAA Says
http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/business/local/article/REST16_20090715-223205/280299/
Texas
Picnic Areas Facing Closure
www.amarillo.com/stories/111109/new_news5.shtml#mdw-comments
State Cuts Staff at Welcome Centers
www.biztimes.com/news/2009/3/6/state-cuts-staff-at-welcome-centers
Memory Project: Documenting Places through Recollection and Perception
Restareahistory.org is initiating a project that seeks to gather and record the intangible documentation of the nation’s Interstate Highway System, and particularly Interstate rest areas; the memories of those who have traveled the roadways.
During the twentieth century the landscape of our country was transformed by successive road building that culminated in the construction of the Interstate Highway System. Just as our landscape has evolved so has our experience of traveling through that landscape. Images of road culture and travel nostalgia have become American icons and millions of Americans have grown up enduring or reveling in the infamous family road trip.
We are interested in your stories. Did you grow up traveling on rural highways or multi-lane Interstate expressways? How has traveling the nation’s roads for business or pleasure formed your cultural perspective? We are very interested in your memories of rest areas. Do you recall stopping in these sites? Humorous stories are welcome and encouraged!
Please send us your travel and rest area memories and stories short or long.
Email: info@restareahistory.org
