To wide public dismay, Virginia closed 18 of its interstate highway rest areas this week to save money made scarce by the recession. One result of the unpopular closings is that a motorist traveling north from North Carolina on Interstate 85 and Interstate 95 will have to drive 229 miles, after passing the Virginia Welcome Center at the state line, before reaching another public rest area—36 miles into Maryland.

Virginia is the national leader in recession-spawned rest-stop closings, according to a national transportation organization. With orange barrels blocking 18 rest areas yesterday and one more closing planned for Sept. 16, almost half of Virginia’s 42 interstate safety rest areas are being shut. The state is closing more rest stops this year than any state responding to a survey by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

Here is a list of closed rest areas from across the state this morning.

Eighteen rest areas that served motorists during the busy summer travel system were idled today over protests from tourism and trucking advocates.

The planned closure of nearly half of Virginia’s highway rest areas next week seems likely to move ahead, despite state officials’ pleas to Congress to help keep them open. The state plans to close 18 rest areas Tuesday because of a shortfall in transportation revenue, but Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and other officials have asked Congress for a waiver or exemption from a federal law barring commercial activities at interstate rest stops. That would enable the state to have private businesses operate them.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is formally asking Congress for help in obtaining a waiver to allow the commercialization of Virginia’s highway rest areas. Kaine yesterday wrote to Rep. John W. Olver, D-Mass., chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, to express his support for “a waiver or a legislative exclusion” from the federal law that bars commercial activities in interstate rest areas.

The motor club AAA has added its voice to those opposing the state’s plans to close some highway rest areas because of budget shortfalls. AAA Mid-Atlantic said yesterday that the plans to mothball 18 Virginia rest areas this month and one welcome center in September would “compromise the safety of all motorists” by limiting options for fatigued drivers to stop and rest.

The closure of 19 rest areas along Virginia’s major highways has received as much attention as any transportation issue since the region’s original inhabitants blazed the first trail. Many have complained. Some have raised safety concerns, as long-distance drivers will have fewer opportunities to catch restorative winks. Economic reality gave state officials few options. Closing the stops rates among the least bad of the available choices. The Commonwealth Transportation Board would like to privatize the areas, but Virginia needs federal permission to do so. Private stops in other states were “grandfathered” when the feds prohibited them elsewhere in the interstate network. Led by Reps. Eric Cantor and Bobby Scott, Virginia’s congressional delegation is applying bipartisan pressure on behalf of high-speed rail. A similar effort regarding private rest areas would be welcome. It also might be easier said than done. Businesses near stops probably would not relish the prospect of competitors located not off the interstates but on them. The concerns may be understandable, but privatization remains an attractive alternative.

Sebastion nosed the water bucket as Hillary Edwards-Burdett leaned into the trailer to water the stallion at the soon-to-be-closed Ladysmith rest area on Interstate 95. “That’d mess us up big time,“ the horse trainer from Marietta, S.C., said about the coming closures. “We stop for the horses, to give them water. Every two to four hours, we’re pulling off the highway.

BILL LOHMANN Local Columnist After returning home some years ago from a seven-week cross-country excursion with my wife and three young children, I was invited by various groups to talk about the trip. On one such occasion after we had exhausted the typical travel chatter of mountains, oceans and deserts, one questioner got down to the nitty-gritty of any road trip:

Official says government wants to “exhaust all options’ while preserving until at least 2011 the 18 rest areas and one welcome center slated for closure and eventual demolition because of budget cutbacks.

Virginia will keep its interstate highway rest areas open through the Fourth of July holiday weekend, even though money to operate them has run out. Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Britt Drewes said that the 19 rest areas scheduled to be closed will stay open until later in July. Exact closing dates have not been decided.

The recession-delayed repaving of a stretch of Interstate 64 in Henrico County and the rehabilitation of Interstate 95 bridges in Richmond will go forward next year at a total cost of $163.3 million, state transportation officials said yesterday. The $43.3 million I-64 project will repair and resurface 5.6 miles of much-patched pavement on both sides of the sixand eight-lane highway between Parham Road and the Bryan Park interchange with I-95.

Fewer interstate rest areas would be closed and the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry would continue to operate around the clock under revisions today to state proposals that would have shut down 25 rest areas and curtailed the popular ferry service. However, to help make up for a $2.6 billion reduction in state and federal revenues over six months, the Virginia Department of Transportation proposes to eliminate interstate safety service patrols run by the state in Richmond and other areas outside Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

Some rest areas and ferry operations now under the recession-driven budget ax may get a reprieve, the state transportation commissioner says. But saving rest areas and ferry service calls for reductions in other state highway efforts, said Transportation Commissioner David S. Ekern. “There’s no magic pot of money,“ Virginia Secretary of Transportation Pierce R. Homer said yesterday.