Cars and trucks blew past 18 empty interstate highway rest areas across Virginia today.
As scheduled, the state began shutting down the rest areas targeted for cost-cutting overnight and finished the job earlier today, the Virginia Department of Transportation said.
The action came amid protests from the traveling public, tourism advocates, the trucking industry and the two candidates for governor.
The Ladysmith rest stop on Interstate 95 in Caroline County, for example, hummed with activity only the day before. This morning, the parking lot was empty except for a couple of contractor pickups.
Orange barrels closed off the ramps into and out of the rest areas, and electronic message signs warned: "Rest Areas Closed."
Rob Thompson of Supply doubted the state will realize the savings it seeks from shutting the rest areas.
"Save $9 million? They're going to blow it on something else," the truck driver said as he stopped at the All American Travel Plaza off I-95 at Doswell.
"When you've got to answer nature's call," Thompson said, "you can't stop just anywhere."
(This is a breaking news update)
Highway crews were to begin closing 18 interstate rest stops early today, hours after the two gubernatorial candidates urged that they stay open. Each pledged to reopen them if elected.
Shutting the popular facilities because of tumbling transportation revenues has prompted wide opposition from the traveling public and the tourism and trucking industries.
By dawn, orange barrels and cones should block the closed rest areas' entrance ramps. Among the rest areas being shuttered are those on Interstate 95 at Ladysmith in Caroline County, on Interstate 64 near Oilville in Goochland, and on Interstate 85 near Dinwiddie Courthouse in Dinwiddie County.
The Virginia Department of Transportation said drivers already in rest areas would be allowed to remain until they finished resting, and once the rest stops were clear of motorists, crews will block the exit ramps.
The highway agency also will change interstate signs to say the rest areas are closed and will adjust signs that guide motorists to the next facility. Electronic signs will give motorists warning that the rest areas are shut.
VDOT then will put the closed stops into mothballs -- stripping out useful items, turning off utilities, draining the plumbing, boarding up the buildings, and putting up steel gates -- at an estimated cost of $570,000.
After statewide public hearings, the Commonwealth Transportation Board voted in June to cut the number of rest areas the Virginia Department of Transportation runs from 42 to 23 as the agency grapples with a $2.6 billion revenue shortfall. The rest-stop closings will save about $8.6 million.
"We have a very serious revenue situation in transportation," state Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer said yesterday. "We need to make sure that we're meeting the very highest priorities of the commonwealth.
"We believe we've done that in the budget we adopted," he said, "and we hope to avoid further cuts."
Former Attorney General Bob McDonnell, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, promised yesterday that he would reopen the rest stops within 90 days of taking office in January.
McDonnell said that to keep the rest stops open, he would seek changed transportation funding priorities, ask organizations to contribute to rest-area operations, "explore creative financing structures" and consider using work-release prisoners and people doing court-required community service to maintain the rest areas.
State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee, speaking with reporters later on a conference call, said he agreed the rest stops should remain open and that he would reopen them within 60 days of becoming governor. He previously has supported efforts to have the rest areas operated by private companies.
Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or pbacque@timesdispatch.com.
Staff writer Jim Nolan contributed to this report.
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