New York State Thruway

[Jim]

I stopped for the first time on Friday afternoon at the new Plattekill service area.  It's the largest of the new ones I've been to so far, but it was not even close to being sufficient to handle Friday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend crowds.  I'll admit it's not fair to judge it based on what's likely one of the top few busiest times of the year, on top of the fact that Modena is closed.  But... the design flaws were apparent.  Food lines spilling into walking and seating areas, nowhere near enough seating, the outdoor seating rendered useless by being in an 85-degree afternoon sun with no shade provided..  I'll give them one thing, though, that while the men's room was really busy, there weren't lines when I went in.  If there were lines for the ladies room, they at least weren't spilling out beyond the entrance.  There were also people in there actually keeping it clean.

[vdeane]

Sloatsburg is also closed, so Plattekill is really feeling the crunch right now (as is the whole I-87 corridor; I-90 between Rochester and Albany is mostly open, but the rest of the system is still at least half closed).  But I still don't know what they were thinking with how small things are.  Did they not realize that Americans drive far enough that they will need to stop for lunch on the way?

[SignBridge]

From everything I've read on this thread, it doesn't seem like the
Thruway Authority realizes very much of anything nowadays.