The Virginia Department of Transportation barricaded nearly half of the state’s highway rest areas last night, despite mounting calls by lawmakers and political candidates to keep them open.
VDOT said it would block off the entrances of 18 rest stops Monday in preparation for clearing out and mothballing the facilities, which will save the cash-strapped agency about $9 million a year. The agency also will board up an Interstate 66 welcome area in Manassas in the fall.
Both of Virginia’s gubernatorial candidates said Monday they would work to reverse the decision if elected. And Republican Rep. Frank Wolf, a vocal critic of shuttering the rest stops, again urged Gov. Tim Kaine to use his authority to prevent the closures for safety reasons. Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling joined that call, as well.
“No one wants to get a call from a state trooper in the middle of the night with bad news,” Wolf wrote. “I am imploring you to reverse this terrible decision.”
The Commonwealth Transportation Board, Virginia’s highway planning panel, opted last month to reduce its number of rest areas from 42 to 23, with a raft of other cuts, to help close a $2.6 billion shortfall over the next six years.
Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell vowed Monday morning to reopen the facilities within 90 days of taking office in January. To pay for them, he suggested an “adopt a safety rest stop” program, private sector partnerships, and a smaller budget for the rest stops that could be supplemented by inmate labor.
His Democratic opponent, State Sen. Creigh Deeds, said on a conference call later in the morning he would reopen the rest stops in 60 days.
“We’ve got a law that says truckers can only spend a certain number of hours a day on the road, if we’re going to enforce that law, we’ve got to provide areas for truck drivers to pull over,” Deeds said. “The rest stops say to people traveling through Virginia that Virginia’s open for business, that Virginia’s a welcoming environment.”
