Maryland is closing or cutting services at a number of rest stops around the state even as Virginia is reopening several of the service centers it closed to save money after a torrent of public complaints.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell announced the reopening of 19 formerly shuttered highway rest areas Wednesday.
“The darkened rest stops presented an image of a Virginia closed for business,” McDonnell said, explaining that such an image could potentially hurt tourism, inhibit economic development and threaten public safety.
The closures — which included all public stops along Interstate 95 between D.C. and the state capital in Richmond — drew the ire of many Virginia motorists when cuts were announced last June.
Meanwhile, Gov. Martin O’Malley has ordered budget cuts leading to the closure or scaling back of services at highway rest stops and tourism centers across his state.
So far, the Maryland closures have elicited little public outrage.
“We haven’t received many [complaints],” said state highway spokesman David Buck, explaining that most of the service cuts were in areas of tourism services.
“We reduced the hours. We cut back with lighting, parking facilities and janitorial services,” Buck said. “But in terms of still being able to park or go to the bathroom, services were just reduced.”
Representatives from Maryland’s department of transportation say that one rest stop — on U.S Route 219 on the west side of the state — will be permanently closed, while seven others will experience service cuts like those Buck described.
However, all eight of the rest areas’ on-site tourism bureaus will be closed indefinitely, including the popular Chesapeake House welcome center. Nine full-time employees and 13 contractual staff members lost their jobs because of the cuts.
“We had to identify within our budget areas in which we could make some cuts,” said Karen Hood, a representative for the state’s office of tourism. The welcome centers were one of those expendable areas.
“There will no longer be actual, physical staff on hand,” Hood said, though other services would continue to operate. The cutbacks went into effect Jan. 7.
In Virginia, McDonnell fulfilled his campaign promise when he successfully lobbied to reopen all of the closed rest stops, despite the state’s budget constraints.
The Virginia Department of Transportation will use $3 million from a reserve fund to pay for the facilities through June of 2010, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
