Governor, Supervisors Seek Rest Area Help
By JONATHAN HUNLEY
Coffee-chugging tourists can take heart: There appears to be no … well … rest in the fight to keep open nearly half of Virginia’s rest areas.
State Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer sent a letter Thursday to the Old Dominion’s congressional delegation, seeking federal help to allow businesses to operate at interstate rest stops.
Prince William’s Board of County Supervisors likewise sent a letter to the congressmen and senators who represent the locality in Washington.
And Gov. Timothy M. Kaine sent a letter to Rep. John W. Olver, who chairs the House Appropriations Transportation subcommittee.
Nineteen of 42 highway rest stops — including those on Interstate 95 in Dale City and Interstate 66 in Manassas — are slated to close to save $9 million toward a $2.6 billion transportation budget shortfall.
All but one would be shuttered Tuesday, forcing full-bladdered motorists to exit the highways for relief.
However, Homer wrote, if federal law prohibiting business activity at Virginia rest areas was changed, that commerce could be a saving grace.
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