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In the United States, Canada, Australia and parts of Europe, a rest area, service station, rest stop, service area, service plaza, travel plaza, or service centre is a public facility, located adjacent to a highway or interstate, at which drivers and passengers can eat and drink, take a stroll, let their children play in grassy park-like areas, walk their pets, check their vehicle's radiator, sleep, and use the restroom before resuming a long drive on the road.

General information

Generally, the standards and upkeep of rest areas facilities vary. Rest areas also have parking areas allotted for buses, tractor-trailer trucks (big rigs) and recreational vehicles (RVs).

Many government-run rest areas tend to be located in remote and rural areas where there are practically no fast food or full-service restaurants, gas stations, motels, and other traveler services nearby - on highway signs, these services are often denoted by symbols of a fork and knife, a gas pump, and a bed, respectively. The location of rest areas are usually marked by a sign on the highway; for example, a sign may read "Next Rest Stop - 10 Kilometres".

Driving information is usually available at these locations, such as posted maps and other local information. Some rest areas have visitor information centers or highway patrol or state trooper stations with staff on duty. There might also be drinking fountains, vending machines, pay telephones, a gas station, a restaurant or a convenience store at a rest area. Many rest areas have picnic areas. Rest areas tend to have traveler information in the form of so-called "exit guides", which often contain very basic maps and advertisements for motels and tourist attractions.

Privatized commercial rest areas may take a form of a large service center complete with a gas station (or petrol station in Britain) , arcade video games and recreation center, and fast food restaurant, cafeteria, or food court all under one roof immediately adjacent to the freeway. Some even offer business services, such as ATMs, fax machines, office cubicles and internet access.

Safety issues

Many rest areas have the reputations of being unsafe with regard to crime, especially at night, since they are situated in remote areas. California's policy is to maintain existing public rest areas, but no longer build new ones due to the cost and difficulty of keeping them safe.

United States

In the United States, rest areas are maintained and funded by the Departments of Transportation of the state governments. For example, rest areas in California are maintained by Caltrans.

In most U.S. states, the state government does not rent space at its public rest areas to private businesses. Some states, like California, have laws explicitly prohibiting that practice . A federal statute passed by Congress also prohibits states from allowing private businesses to occupy rest areas along Interstate highways. The relevant clause of 23 U.S.C. § 111 states:

The State will not permit automotive service stations or other commercial establishments for serving motor vehicle users to be constructed or located on the rights-of-way of the Interstate System.

The original reason for this clause was to protect innumerable small towns whose survival depended upon providing roadside services; because of it, private truck stops and travel plazas have blossomed into a $171 billion industry in the United States. The clause was immediately followed by an exception for facilities constructed prior to January 1, 1960, many of which continue to exist as explained further below.

Therefore, the standard practice is that private businesses must buy up land near existing exits and build their own facilities to serve travelers. Such facilities often have signs several hundred feet tall that can be seen from several miles away (so that travelers have adequate time to make a decision).

In turn, it is somewhat harder to visit such private facilities, because one has to first exit the freeway and navigate through several intersections to reach a desired restaurant's parking lot, rather than exit directly into a rest area's parking lot.

Special blue signs indicating gas, food, lodging, camping and attractions at an exit can be found on most freeways in North America. Private businesses are permitted to add their logos to these signs by paying the government a small fee.

Attempts to remove the federal ban on privatized rest areas have been generally unsuccessful, due to resistance from existing businesses that have already made enormous capital investments in their existing locations.

For example, in 2003, President George W. Bush's federal highway funding reauthorization bill contained a clause allowing states to start experimenting with privatized rest areas on Interstate highways. The clause was fiercely resisted by the National Association of Truck Stop Owners (NATSO), which argued that allowing such rest areas would shift revenue to state governments (in the form of lease payments) that would have gone to local governments (in the form of property and sales taxes). NATSO also argued that by destroying private commercial truck stops, the bill would result in an epidemic of drowsy truck drivers, since such stops currently provide about 90% of the parking spaces used by American truck drivers while in transit.

Welcome centers

A type of rest area often located near state borders in the United States is sometimes called a welcome center. However, because air travel has made it possible to enter and leave many states without crossing the state line at ground level, some states, like California, also have official welcome centers inside major cities far from their state borders, often at airports.

Exceptions

Florida's Turnpike is a major exception to the normal practice, with rest areas built between the northbound and southbound lanes, and rented out to private food and gas companies. Another exception are the Tollway oases found along toll roads in northeast Illinois. Nearly all of these rest areas are built on top of a bridge over the highway, and they are full service rest areas. One highway oasis is built alongside the highway instead of over it.

The John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway through Maryland and Delaware, The Massachusetts Turnpike, New York State Thruway, Pennsylvania Turnpike, New Jersey Turnpike, Ohio Turnpike, Indiana Toll Road, West Virginia Turnpike, Kansas Turnpike, Connecticut Turnpike, and Maine Turnpike also have rest areas with extensive services.

United Kingdom

The term "rest area" is not generally used in the United Kingdom. The most common terms are motorway service areas (MSA), motorway service stations or simply motorway services. As with the rest of the world, these are places where drivers can leave a motorway to refuel, rest, or take refreshments.

Food sold at MSAs is notoriously expensive (although discounts are frequently available; for instance, RAC breakdown members receive a little-publicised 20% discount on virtually all products at Moto service stations on production of their membership card). This is often attributed to the fact that, by law, MSAs must provide food, fuel and toilet services at all times, and by the fact that the vast majority of MSAs in the UK are owned by one of three companies: Moto, Welcome Break or RoadChef. Another factor may be that, unlike in other countries, the companies must pay the full cost of constructing the entry and exit ramps and all other required features for safe access to the MSA, as well as the MSA facility itself. In other countries, the authority responsible for the highway tends to subsidize these costs on the grounds that these areas are partly a public service to drivers. By law, MSAs must operate 24 hours a day, and the costs of providing utilities and services are high. With very few customers in the early morning, they need to earn the money in other ways.

Services are prohibited from selling alcohol, as this might encourage drunk driving.

Canada

Most of the service centers in Canada are situated in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, along their 400-Series and Quebec Autoroute networks. The service centers in Ontario have private restaurants and establishments, such as Subway, Wendy's, Tim Horton's, and Nicholby's Express convenience stores. They also have gas stations, washrooms, picnic areas, vending machines, and arcade games. The service centers in Ontario were built around 1962, but no more are planned to be constructed. Two (along Highway 400, just south of Barrie, Ontario) are planned to be torn down when the freeway is widened around 2008-2009.

In Quebec, the service centers are located along their Autoroutes, and many of their provincial highways.

The Province of Alberta also has service centers along the Trans Canada Highway/Highway 1, and along Highway 2, with a service center along the Northbound carriageway of Highway 2, near Wetaswikin, and the Southbound service center located in Airdrie. There is also a service center in the town of Valleyview, Alberta, near the village, along Highway 43, near the town, and junction with Highway 49.

British Columbia has many services centers on its provincial roads, particularly along the Yellowhead Highway/Highway 16, the Coquihalla Highway/Highway 5, and on Higwhay 97C, the first service centers built in the province. One notable curiosity is a service center built along Highway 118: it is a minor road connecting two towns to the Yellowhead Highway (Hwy. 16).

The Prarie Provinces (Saskatchewan, Manitoba) have rest stops located along the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1, however, they are simply places to rest, or go to the washroom; they are not built to such high standards as the 400-Series Highways of Ontario, or the Interstate Highways of America.

Atlantic Canada has service centers, much in the form of the ones in the Prarie Provinces, but Nova Scotia has full-fledged service centers along its 100-Series Highways.

Other countries

In Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, rest areas have prayer rooms (musola) for Muslims travelling more than 90 km (marhalah).

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See also

• Diner
• Lay-by
• Truck stop

References

1. Cal. Streets and Highways Code Sections 225.5 and 731 .
2. Gordon Dickson, "Government Work Zone," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4 August 2003, sec. Metro, p. 3.
3. Anonymous. "NATSO denounces pro-commercialization in highway bill." National Petroleum News 95, no. 5, (May 2003): 9.

External links

• TAB-MSAs (UK)
• UK Motorway Service Areas
• Motorway Services Trivia website

Lists of rest areas

• TAB - Rest areas in the UK
• Rest areas in Colorado
• Rest areas in Virginia
• Rest areas in Quebec (in French)

• Road transport