Why are so many rest stops closed?
I'm heading west from NC on my way to Los Angeles along I-40. I've noticed that about 30% of the rest stops are closed. Why is that? Is it because of budget cuts, restoration, abuses by travelers? ...
Forum Discussion
People mention Texas. From what I see, there are a few "safety rest stops" that are built... but there are -so many- that have been destroyed in the past few years.
For example, there used to be rest stops on roads which had step-ladders, allowing people to go over the fence to use the farmland. Those are gone. Others (like the one on 71 between Austin and Bastrop) have been fenced in. Still others like the rest stop between 290 in Elgin and Giddings have had all their picnic stuff removed, and are, at best, unmarked turn-offs. The closest rest stop to me, in Austin, is over 100 miles away, when just a few years ago, one could go out many roads and find a picnic table.
It makes me just wonder... is crime in the US so bad that just having a place to pull off a highway for the night is too big a risk for the state of Texas to allow? I hate increased surveillance, but couldn't a rest stop with a set of high-res cameras for security do a decent job at deterring crime, if only having a license plate reader to catch potential getaway vehicles.
It would be nice to see some type of rest stops come back onto not just the big highways (I-10, I-35), but smaller roads as well, since it would be nice to crash out in the middle of rural Texas as opposed to trying to find a town that is big enough to have a Wal-Mart, but doesn't have an anti-overnighting regulation.
For example, there used to be rest stops on roads which had step-ladders, allowing people to go over the fence to use the farmland. Those are gone. Others (like the one on 71 between Austin and Bastrop) have been fenced in. Still others like the rest stop between 290 in Elgin and Giddings have had all their picnic stuff removed, and are, at best, unmarked turn-offs. The closest rest stop to me, in Austin, is over 100 miles away, when just a few years ago, one could go out many roads and find a picnic table.
It makes me just wonder... is crime in the US so bad that just having a place to pull off a highway for the night is too big a risk for the state of Texas to allow? I hate increased surveillance, but couldn't a rest stop with a set of high-res cameras for security do a decent job at deterring crime, if only having a license plate reader to catch potential getaway vehicles.
It would be nice to see some type of rest stops come back onto not just the big highways (I-10, I-35), but smaller roads as well, since it would be nice to crash out in the middle of rural Texas as opposed to trying to find a town that is big enough to have a Wal-Mart, but doesn't have an anti-overnighting regulation.
