Critics decry closures

Stopping for a stretch of the legs or a trip to the restroom is a vanishing option along interstates here and across the country as states scramble to whittle strapped budgets.

Twenty-seven rest areas in four states have closed this year, more than two-thirds, or 18, of them in Virginia. That has resulted in, among other things, a 225-mile run along Interstate 81, from Winchester to Fairfield, between rest areas. Drivers pass by two shuttered stops, including one in Mount Solon, along the way.

That’s a situation that could change next year. Both gubernatorial candidates — Robert F. McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach, and Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County — have vowed to reopen the stops.

Their criticism of the cost-cutting move by the Virginia Department of Transportation, backed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, has been echoed by local lawmakers. The closings are projected to save the state $9 million annually. Last year at one point, the budget was more than $2 billion in the red.

McDonnell renewed the argument Friday against the closings, sending a letter to Kaine, urging him to immediately reopen the rest areas, suggesting, among other things, a public-private partnership and the use of nonviolent inmates to keep the stops going.

But states considering privatization options – something Kaine and others favor – face a thicket of legal quandaries. Federal legislation current prohibits it, VDOT spokesman Jeff Caldwell said.

“We’ve been getting calls from developers and private contractors that are interested, but we can’t have an open conversation with the community of folks who are interested in doing that,” Caldwell said. “Anything at this point is speculation.”

Six stops have been closed along I-81. On the northern side of the highway, there is a 133-mile gap between rest areas, from Ironto, in the Christiansburg area, to New Market. A second shuttered Mount Sidney stop is located within that stretch.

While Texas is using federal money to boost the number of rest areas, and already has amenities such as wireless Internet access, other states, including Maine, Vermont, Colorado and Louisiana, have closed some stops to save money.

Political power players aren’t alone in fighting the rest stop closings. Caldwell said VDOT has been busy fielding e-mails and phone calls offering ideas on how the agency can get the rest areas reopened.

AAA Mid-Atlantic has echoed the reopening call. Clayton Boyce, vice president of public affairs for the American Trucking Associations in Washington, D.C., said it would support any measure to reopen Virginia’s rest areas, but did not advocate for one in particular.

“We’ve seen lots of suggestions, and we’d like to see one or some or all of them followed up to get those 18 safety rest areas open,” Boyce said. “We’re not picking and choosing which solutions are the best. We’re not ruling any out, either.”

Caldwell said crews are mothballing the closed facilities – boarding them up and disconnecting the plumbing and other utilities. Steel gates will then go up to permanently secure them.

The process, Caldwell said, should be complete in 60 to 90 days.

He said there are no plans by the agency to reopen the stops in the wake of public criticism of the closures.

“When we developed these plans, we did this with the long-term in mind,” Caldwell said.

He said the revenue shortfalls are not expected to change in the next six years. It’s not a “knee-jerk reaction,” Caldwell said, but a long-term outlook.

“Looking at state and federal resources, we just have not seen any indication or any reversal in that effect,” Caldwell said.

He said VDOT attempted with its rest area closures to leave open either locations in rural areas or locations in areas without commercial places to stop. As for the two rest areas near Afton Mountain along the eastbound and westbound sides of I-64, Caldwell said its unique “microclimate” played a factor in keeping those locations open.

Boyce said that while the ATA has not received any tangible data on the impact of the rest area closures, he expects to hear that it has caused “some operational problems.”

“We’re glad that they have reduced the number of closures from 25 to [19], but still, you’re taking away that opportunity and causing someone to drive much further than they’re used to doing in order to get to an area to rest or to check their vehicle,” Boyce said.

People in the trucking industry have said that the stops provide a spot for drivers to pick up some of their mandated down time to avoid fatigue behind the wheel.