The Virginia Department of Transportation will close nearly half of its highway rest stops this month — during the height of summer travel season — part of a painful round of cuts aimed at closing a $2.6 billion shortfall over the next six years.
VDOT plans to close 18 rest areas July 21:
» I-81: North Rural Retreat, South Smyth, North Radford, South Troutville, North Mount Sidney, South Mount Sidney, South New Market
» I-95: North Ladysmith, South Ladysmith, North Dale City (cars), South Dale City (cars)
» I-66: East Manassas
» I-64 East Goochland, West Goochland
» I-85: North Dinwiddie, South Dinwiddie, North Alberta, South Alberta
VDOT announced Monday that 18 rest areas would be boarded up July 21. One welcome center, along Interstate 66 in Manassas, will stay open through the summer but will close in September. The move will save an estimated $9 million a year, the agency estimates.
“There is no right time for this, and it’s not an easy decision for us,” VDOT spokesman Jeffrey Caldwell said. “But we have to address a $2.6 billion revenue shortfall, and we’re doing everything we can to do that. Every day we leave these open, we lose more money that needs to be used to balance the budget.”
The closures are unpopular with tourism groups, who say they will leave behind highway eyesores, and truckers, who say that the lack of rest areas, especially along the heavily traveled Interstate 81 corridor, poses a safety hazard.
VDOT originally planned to shutter 25 of its 42 roadside rest areas, but later scaled the total back to 19 after widespread protest.
Diana Boxey, marketing and communications manager for the Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association, said the reduced closures were better than the original plan. Still, “it’s a huge hit to tourism to have any of the rest areas close, just boarded up on the side of the highway,” Boxey said.
VDOT also plans to cut back roadside mowing, lay off hundreds of workers, reduce ferry service and cut safety service patrols to help correct its bottom line, which has been suffering from a plunge in revenue.
Virginia officials have suggested privatizing the rest areas to save money but have been stymied by a federal ban. Should the fiscal outlook stay dismal and that ban stay in place, VDOT may have to bulldoze the buildings, remove the parking lots and replant grass, Caldwell said.
