According to the Des Moines Register, Iowa state officials are planning to shut down some of the state’s rest areas in order to cut costs, telling motorists to use truck stops, gas stations and fast-food restaurants for their travel needs instead.
“Paul Trombino, director of the Iowa Department of Transportation, said his agency has already decided it won’t replace two rest areas along Interstate Highway 80 in Dallas County when they are demolished for an interchange project in early 2015. The fate of most of Iowa’s 38 other full-service rest areas is yet to be decided,” the Des Monies Register reported.
Trombino went on to say that more rest areas in the state will close over the next several years, “There is no question about that,” Trombino told the Register.
There are 40 rest areas in Iowa and they cost $6.1 million year year to operate. Money that would have gone to the rest areas would then be funneled into the state’s Road Use Tax Fund.
In 2006, Transportation Commission members voted 6-0 in favor of retaining all of the state’s rest areas.
Officials have not reported how many rest areas are on the chopping block.
For more information, follow this link to the Des Moines Register.