Rest areas across Va. set to close; candidates plan to revive them

You’ll have to hold it a little longer if you’re driving in Virginia beginning today.

Due to budget cuts, the Virginia Department of Transportation has closed 18 rest areas around the state, including the two Mount Sidney rest areas on both sides of Interstate 81, which will officially close around 9 a.m. today, according to VDOT spokeswoman Sandy Myers. Another rest area near Manassas, along I-66, will close in September.

That means those wanting a quick stop to stretch their legs, go to the restroom and pick up a snack will have to either wait a little longer or exit the interstate to do so.

However, Bob McDonnell, Republican candidate for governor, said Monday in a news release that, if elected, he would reopen the rest areas within 90 days of taking office.

McDonnell proposed keeping the rest areas open in the short-term by having private organizations participate in an “Adopt a Safety Rest Stop” program, without providing commercial services.

He also called for the General Assembly to come up with “creative financing structures” to pay for rest area operations and maintenance during the 2010 session while finding private partnerships.

Gov. Timothy Kaine, McDonnell said, “should promptly construct a more limited budget for rest stop operations,” below the $9 million it receives now. The Commonwealth Transportation Board’s budget, according to McDonnell, should be “reprioritized” to keep rest areas open.

McDonnell said the state should explore using inmates or those on work release to clean rest areas or do landscaping.
“Shutting down Virginia’s rest stops will negatively impact motorists, impair public safety, weaken our tourism industry and slap a ‘Closed’ sign on the Commonwealth,” McDonnell said in a statement. “That’s not what Virginia needs right now.”

State Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, running against McDonnell for the governor’s office, said he, too, opposes the rest area closures, having spoken out against them during an April campaign stop in Harrisonburg.

“I have already talked to the governor and several members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board, and have expressed my frustration about this decision,” Deeds said. “It’s not a good sign for Virginia, and it’s frankly just a bad move

Deeds said he supports “innovative approaches” to keeping the rest areas open, and supports efforts to commercialize them. He said that, if elected in November, and with the General Assembly in session for 60 days from January through early March, “I think we are going to get something done in the first 60 days that I’m in office to reopen the rest stops.”

AAA Mid-Atlantic, along with the Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association and Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Vienna, has called on Kaine to keep the rest areas open. Wolf offered an amendment to the fiscal 2010 transportation bill to commercialize rest areas, but it was defeated.

VDOT crews are using orange barrels and cones to block entrance ramps, and will adjust signage to direct motorists to the next available facility. The crews will spend the next several weeks disconnecting utilities; removing equipment, supplies and fixtures that can be reused at the 23 rest areas remaining open; and begin mothballing the closed facilities.

Once each facility is fully decommissioned, crews plan to install large metal gates across entrance and exit ramps.