No more rest: VDOT to close county’s rest stops
John Boal/News & Messenger
The rest stop on I-95 southbound will be closed by July 1.
Published: June 19, 2009
The Virginia Department of Transportation is closing four rest stops in Prince William County come July 1.
The Interstate 95 northbound and southbound rest areas in Dale City and the eastbound and westbound rest areas off Interstate 66 in Manassas will be closed.
However, the Dale City truck stops will remain open. In all, VDOT will close 23 of 42 rest stops around the state, saving $9 million. The manner in which they are closing has not been determined yet, said VDOT spokeswoman Joan Morris.
Battered by the recession, Virginia’s highway and transit programs have shrunk by one-third in two years.
“We’re back to basics,” state Transportation Commissioner David S. Ekern said Thursday. “It’s about pavements and bridges now. It’s not about congestion. It’s not about expansion.”
Ekern made his comments Thursday after the Commonwealth Transportation Board adopted a $7.5 billion statewide transportation-improvement program for 2010-2015, down $4 billion from the $11.5 billion in the 2008-2014 program.
“The commonwealth is facing a crisis in transportation funding,” Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer said in a statement. “These drastic reductions reflect our ongoing challenge to meet federal obligations and state maintenance needs while experiencing drastic declines in state and federal revenues.”
Virginia has only enough of its own money to use to match federal grant dollars and to pay for mandated programs, according to Reta Busher, the Virginia Department of Transportation’s chief financial officer.
Consequently, the cutbacks have eliminated the state funding distributed to localities for their own use on secondary, primary, urban and unpaved road work.
Federal transportation stimulus funds will blunt — but won’t offset — the reductions in Virginia’s transportation revenues, state officials said.
The state is to receive $694.5 million in federal economic-stimulus funds, to be spent within three years. The board so far has awarded contracts for $81 million of the money.
However, the state highway program brought good news for metropolitan Richmond.
The board approved more than $97 million to start two ready-to-go projects in Richmond and Henrico County: rehabilitating 11 deteriorating bridges on Interstate 95 and repaving the intensely potholed Interstate 64 between I-95 and Parham Road.
“We’re good to go,” said Transportation Board member Gerald P. McCarthy of Richmond.
VDOT’s chief engineer, Malcolm T. Kerley, hit one of the potholes on I-64 near Glenside Drive last week, blew out one of his tires and bent its wheel.
“Even VDOT people are not immune,” he said.
With transportation revenues tumbling, the board chopped VDOT’s maintenance and operations for fiscal 2009-2010:
—Shutting down 19 of the state’s 42 interstate-highway rest areas and welcome centers.
—Reducing motorist-service patrols in metropolitan areas.
—Closing 51 VDOT local residency offices and equipment shops.
—Scaling back interstate maintenance contracts.
—Cutting roadside mowing and maintenance by $20 million.
—Paring some ferry services.
Aimed at saving $9 million a year, the rest-area closures have been a particular sore spot with the trucking and tourism industries, as well as local officials and members of the public, particularly along Interstate 81 in western Virginia.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Megan Svajda, the Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association’s director of government relations. “This is the height of the tourist season. For any to be closed is detrimental to the tourist industry.”
Tourism is big business in the state. Travelers spent almost $18.7 billion in Virginia in 2007 and generated $4.3 billion in payroll, according to the state tourism agency.
“We’re a state that people have to go through,” said Transportation Board Member James A. Davis of Winchester. “We really need to be friendly to them.
“It’s shortsighted how we’re going to precipitously close” the rest areas this summer, he said.
Ekern said VDOT is trying to accommodate the travel industry. “I’m not just going to throw up barricades” blocking travelers from the rest stops.
At yesterday’s board meeting, Davis tried to use $9 million in highway paving money to keep the rest stops open, but the motion failed.
Media General News Service contributed to this report.
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Reader Reactions
Nice going Gov. Kaine - Your running for office was largely based on a promise of a transportation fix. Since of learning last week that your goverment failed to submit the neccesary transportation fixes to the Fed’s so to obtain money in the proper amount of time, Virginia is the 48th state in line to recieve any money now. I wonder how many rest areas could have remained open if state officials were on top of this issue let alone needed job creations and other obviously needed projects. Its unbelievable how such a high priority subject such as transportation could have terribly failed. Actually its obvious…state officials sleeping on the job it.
By the way, VDOT has become such a money pit w/in itself its a wonder anything gets done. Why does it always take such a large workforce to maintain a pot hole. I’ve seen up to 14 VDOT employees doing pothole maintenance, rediculous. Thats just one example. My time is short this morning so I don’t have time to list the many more that are just as wastefull.
Thanks alot!
There’s a possibility that all the state’s rest stops could be franchised out to private business, but that would first need approval from Congress.
check this site out… blame the patrolium industy.. guess this act by congree was made law over 47 years ago…http://www.pmaa.org/issues/ira_ommercialization.html
President Bush tried to overturn the law, but….. once again was struck down. Sorry Clinton.Lots of info on this issue on…http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/
Agreed…... That was stupid law. let me guess.. done under Clinton? States have soverienty, wonder if anyone ever took this law to the Supreme Court and challanged it? Will have to do some research on it. Learn something new everyday.
This is why state law should always supersede federal law, and the federal government should concern themselves with federal issues not interfere with the sovereignty of states.
Just my opinion…
CheryIS: Blame the Federal Government meddling for that. Federal Law prohibits states from putting any private business in rest stops. The states that have business there built their rest stops before the federal law was passed. We’d need our congressional representatives to push to change that law.
As I stated on another post, do the right thing, Kaine has his eye on another prize. I was never convince this guy cared one hoot about Virginia. To me his only concern has always been what come next ... and certainly the state of Virginia is not it.
I agree, Bob McDonnell is the man for the job.
President Obama ran on a campaign of change. In November, change is needed in the Governor’s office and we need to elect Bob McDonnell. The State of Virginia has gone down the tube since the Democrats have been in office.
Governor Kaine is so concerned about tourism and transportation in our state that he is frequently absent while raising funds as Chairmen for the Democratic Party out of state. He needs to stay put in Virginia and work on behalf of all Virginians who pay his salary, not the Democratic Party.
This is an embarassment to the state. In coming years, thousands of tourists will see that the rest stops are closed and just say, “Virginia is really going downhill.“ We need a management shakeup at VDOT. There is just no excuse for this. I’ll bet the administrators are getting hefty raises for implementing this.
I am torn on this one. To close the one here would add extra congestion the weekends in Dale City and the Mall area, but on the other hand, will also bring in extra revenue as people who need to pull off for restroom reasons will use our local businesses.Too bad our state couldnt take a cue from other states rest stops and be self supporting, Driving to Delaware you can stop, buy food from diff. vendors, the rest areas are nice. Florida has thier visitor centers at thier rest stops and vending machines. Closing down metro area rest stops can help boost the local economy, closing those down in less populated areas may be not a good idea. Like I said, torn on this one.
I completely agree SpeakIt09.
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