Winchester — With Tuesday’s shuttering of 18 rest areas and another closure planned for September, Virginia’s budget squabbles have now made their way to the Interstate Highway System.

The closures have become political in nature, pitting Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and his appointees to the Commonwealth Transportation Board against state Republicans, who say the move is an attempt to force GOP leaders to fund additional highway projects amid the economic downturn.

The area’s representative on the CTB, former Shenandoah University president James A. Davis, in June attempted to delay the closure of the 19 rest areas.

His motion would have kept them open until additional revenue sources could be found.
Davis, a board member appointed by Democratic Gov. Mark Warner, said Monday that the decision to close the rest areas came as the CTB sought to find $2 billion in savings.

He said the public may not have fully understood what was at stake, despite complaints from AAA — an 800,000-member organization for travelers — about the closing of the facilities.

Del. C. Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock, said the closing of the rest areas will hurt the state.
“It makes Virginia much less friendly to visitors,” he said. “It’s going to compromise tourism, and most importantly, it is going to be a real threat to public safety.”

The rest areas, operated by the Virginia Department of Transportation, include the Welcome Center at Clear Brook, which will remain open.

Jeff Caldwell, VDOT’s director of communications, said the agency sought public suggestions as it tried to make cuts in transportation funding.

The public comments altered the final plan considerably, he said.

FFor example, the original plan closed all of the Interstate 81 rest areas in Virginia — a span of 319 miles. The only exceptions were to be the Welcome Center in Bristol and the other in Clear Brook.

After public comment, Caldwell said, five rest areas along I-81 will remain open.

Those staying open are for northbound traffic at mile marker 262 at New Market; at mile marker 195 at Fairfield; at mile marker 129 at Ironto; at mile marker 108 for southbound traffic at Radford; and at mile marker 13 for truck traffic at Abingdon.

“Our guideline was to have one open so there is not much more than a 120-mile span between rest areas,” Caldwell said. “That is about a two-hour drive, which is what is recommended.”

He said the closure of some rest areas, including the ones for northbound and southbound traffic at Mount Sidney (mile marker 232), was chosen because drivers would have other options available to make a stop.

Caldwell said the rest areas staying open reflect a need by travelers to have a place to stop.

He said the closure of 19 rest areas — seven on I-81, four on I-85, four on I-95, two on I-64, and two on I-66 — is part of VDOT’s efforts to help ease a $2.6 billion budget gap in the next six years.

Each rest stop costs about $500,000 annually to operate.

State Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Upperville, said the decision to close the rest areas will hurt residents of her district, as well as other drivers.

“This is a serious safety issue,” she said Tuesday. “It is a place where a large truck can stop. It’s a comfort issue, a safety issue when there are not enough places for them to be able to stop. This isn’t a luxury; it is a necessity.

“I’m disappointed the governor doesn’t view it in the same way. It is within the governor’s purview to halt this directive so that we would not see money taken out of rest areas.”
Del. Joe T. May, R-Loudoun County, said he was hopeful that legislators and Congress can find some way to reopen the sites.

As chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, May watches transportation needs closely.

He said he is hopeful that Congress may lift the federal ban on private business involvement in the rest areas.

May said Kaine also seemed willing to push for the privatization. “It is a safety issue, a quality of life issue, and an economic development issue.”

He added that one of the rest areas that closed this week, at Ladysmith at mile marker 107 on I-95, is one he was known to use traveling to and from the General Assembly in Richmond.

Gordon Hickey, Kaine’s press secretary, said in an e-mail Tuesday that the governor had considered moving money from other budget items but decided in the end to close the rest areas.

Davis said his chief concern was the appearance of the closed rest areas and the signal this would send to visitors in Virginia.

“I believe they should clear the sites, remove the buildings, and make it look like nothing was ever there,” he said. “The appearance of fences and gates is the worst thing for Virginia.”

Gilbert said state officials could have found a way around closing the rest areas.

“I think it is self-evident to the commonwealth that it’s a relatively insignificant amount of money in the scheme of the things of the public’s transportation budget,” he said in an interview Monday.

“I’m concerned that the department, specifically the governor and the secretary, really want this to be a pawn in a larger game of chicken over transportation taxes.”

— Contact Drew Houff at
dhouff@winchesterstar.com