Abandoned Rest Areas

[The Nature Boy]

I've always been a fan of the service plaza on the New York Thruway in Angola. You have a gas station and facilities on both sides but the McDonalds is only on one side and they're connected by a pedestrian bridge.

Seems like that would save a ton of money for the toll roads that utilize service plazas.

[xcellntbuy]

The Thruway's Sloatsburg and Ramapo pair of service areas are similar, just north of Exit 15.

[empirestate]

The Thruway's Sloatsburg and Ramapo pair of service areas are similar, just north of Exit 15.

Except, of course, for not having anything in the median, nor any connection between them. Otherwise, identical. :-)


iPhone

[tcorlandoinsavannah]

I drove by there last October and can confirm it is a construction staging area.  I always thought it was an odd place for a rest area, especially since there wasn't one on the westbound side.

Thanks.  I always thought it was an odd placement too.

[freebrickproductions]

Here's a recently closed one up in Tennessee:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0246908,-85.5585797,418m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

[tidecat]

Here's a recently closed one up in Tennessee:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0246908,-85.5585797,418m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

When did that close? I drove past it on November 1 and saw no indication of it being closed.

[ftballfan]

I'm surprised more states don't use the single median rest areas to save money.

MoDOT has one on I-44.

MDOT has the one on US-127 at Clare. Speaking of MDOT, they have a few seasonal rest areas especially along US-31 and I-75 (closed from around December 1 to mid-April), and I feel those would be the first to get shut down if they decided to close some.

[GCrites]

Here's a recently closed one up in Tennessee:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0246908,-85.5585797,418m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

Oh, that's sad. It was in a really cool location. And I hate it when welcome centers close.

[CtrlAltDel]

Here's a recently closed one up in Tennessee:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0246908,-85.5585797,418m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

I just gave them a call, and they said they were open.

[freebrickproductions]

Here's a recently closed one up in Tennessee:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0246908,-85.5585797,418m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

I just gave them a call, and they said they were open.

Must be open only part of the time or something. When I went past there on Thursday, the place was closed.

[SteveG1988]

Here's a recently closed one up in Tennessee:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0246908,-85.5585797,418m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

I just gave them a call, and they said they were open.

Must be open only part of the time or something. When I went past there on Thursday, the place was closed.

They may be doing work to it, i go by it enough to see it is randomly open and closed too. Also no truck access to the eastbound one, and no overnight parking west bound.

[SteveG1988]

I hate it when i come up to a rest area and it is permaclosed. Look, semis depend on them to stop if they are running low on hours, we can only drive 11 hours before we have to take a 10 hour break. In a lot of places the only place to stop for a truck is a rest area. Yet they keep closing them to everyone. Then trucks start parking on the on/off ramps of diamond interchanges....and then states start to crack down on that....and towns won't let truck stops be built due to the riff raff they presume will come along with it, and then you get towns that ban truck parking at wal-mart, or the stores themselves do it. Then you have to deal with risking hours of service violations if you go through that area.

At least convert the closed facilities into truck parking only. Install a minimalistic toilet and such, widen out the spots, remove the car parking area, etc.

Just a rant as a guy who has been put under the bus by states doing this.

[hbelkins]

It's possible that the Tennessee rest area was closed due to water issues, or problems with the sewage system. That happens in Kentucky every so often.

[rawmustard]

I hate it when i come up to a rest area and it is permaclosed. Look, semis depend on them to stop if they are running low on hours, we can only drive 11 hours before we have to take a 10 hour break. In a lot of places the only place to stop for a truck is a rest area. Yet they keep closing them to everyone. Then trucks start parking on the on/off ramps of diamond interchanges....and then states start to crack down on that....and towns won't let truck stops be built due to the riff raff they presume will come along with it, and then you get towns that ban truck parking at wal-mart, or the stores themselves do it. Then you have to deal with risking hours of service violations if you go through that area.

At least convert the closed facilities into truck parking only. Install a minimalistic toilet and such, widen out the spots, remove the car parking area, etc.

Just a rant as a guy who has been put under the bus by states doing this.

I noticed a few semis parked in untypical places on my trip to Iowa a few weeks ago. Thankfully not on freeway ramps, but like the truck stop driveways (like we saw at a quick stop at a Pilot near Newton). Just about every rest area space was taken, and even though there are truck stops at just about every other interchange between the Mississippi and Des Moines, it still does not seem to be enough for that corridor. (It explains why Iowa 80 can be the world's biggest truck stop.)

[lepidopteran]

The Thruway's Sloatsburg and Ramapo pair of service areas are similar, just north of Exit 15.

Except, of course, for not having anything in the median, nor any connection between them. Otherwise, identical. :-)
iPhone

Isn't there still an pedestrian bridge connecting Ramapo to Sloatsburg?

The reason for having that overhead crosswalk is that originally, there was no plaza going SB, so the bridge gave SB motorists access.  Not sure exactly when the SB plaza opened, but I suspect it was in the '90s.  The older NB plaza has more food selections than the SB, which is probably why they left the bridge in place.  Sloatsburg (NB) is the only service plaza on any highway that I'm aware of with its own parking structure!  Its popularity is probably due to it being the first easy location to stop at outside of New York City, and at just the right time where, um, comfort station needs arise.  It sort of replaced the Red Apple Rest on NY-17 (now closed, still standing AFAIK) when the Thruway opened, especially for folks on the way to the Catskill resort area.

There is at least one pair of plazas on the PA Turnpike that also started out only on one side, but with a tunnel under the highway to connect them.  I heard that the tunnel, long closed to the public, might still exist.  But with all the PATP plazas recently reconstructed...

[Rothman]

The Thruway's Sloatsburg and Ramapo pair of service areas are similar, just north of Exit 15.

Except, of course, for not having anything in the median, nor any connection between them. Otherwise, identical. :-)
iPhone

Isn't there still an pedestrian bridge connecting Ramapo to Sloatsburg?

Yes, but only the brave actually go in there.

[vdeane]

I wouldn't call Ramapo a "service plaza" so much as a Sunoco and a McDonalds that got plopped down on the interstate.

The pedestrian bridge is still there, but I don't think the public is allowed in.

[cl94]

The Thruway's Sloatsburg and Ramapo pair of service areas are similar, just north of Exit 15.

Except, of course, for not having anything in the median, nor any connection between them. Otherwise, identical. :-)
iPhone

Isn't there still an pedestrian bridge connecting Ramapo to Sloatsburg?

Yes, but only the brave actually go in there.

I wouldn't call Ramapo a "service plaza" so much as a Sunoco and a McDonalds that got plopped down on the interstate.

The pedestrian bridge is still there, but I don't think the public is allowed in.

Correct. Signs show it as closed to the public, but you could still get in there if you really wanted to.

Sloatsburg is certainly the largest single-direction plaza in the system, but they only built up because they couldn't build out. Ramapo likely gets an equal amount of traffic and probably should have been built the same size. Instead, it's the smallest plaza in the system and, as the last before New York/Garden State Parkway/NJ Turnpike (if using I-287), it gets insanely crowded and it is one of the many reasons why I avoid that section of the Thruway.

[empirestate]

Sloatsburg is certainly the largest single-direction plaza in the system, but they only built up because they couldn't build out. Ramapo likely gets an equal amount of traffic and probably should have been built the same size. Instead, it's the smallest plaza in the system and, as the last before New York/Garden State Parkway/NJ Turnpike (if using I-287), it gets insanely crowded and it is one of the many reasons why I avoid that section of the Thruway.

Is it smaller than Ardsley?

[cl94]

Sloatsburg is certainly the largest single-direction plaza in the system, but they only built up because they couldn't build out. Ramapo likely gets an equal amount of traffic and probably should have been built the same size. Instead, it's the smallest plaza in the system and, as the last before New York/Garden State Parkway/NJ Turnpike (if using I-287), it gets insanely crowded and it is one of the many reasons why I avoid that section of the Thruway.

Is it smaller than Ardsley?

Building appears to be about the same size, maybe a tad larger. I always forget about Ardsley. Never use that stretch of the Thruway with it being flanked by (free) parkways. Bet Ramapo gets a heck of a lot more traffic, though.

[thefraze_1020]

More Washington examples:

The Price Creek Rest Area was closed back in the 90's and made into a "Sno-Park" in both directions. For a few years recently, the eastbound Rest Area reopened again, as a primitive site. Finally, both directions closed completely last May to make way for a wildlife crossing to be built in the near future.

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.3216594,-121.3228487,755m/data=!3m1!1e3

A weigh station on northbound I-82/ US395 just after crossing into Washington in Plymouth appears to either have been an abandoned rest area, or a rest area never built.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.9595369,-119.339699,1268m/data=!3m1!1e3

Although not necessarily "abandoned", this wayside is on Yakima Valley Highway (former alignment of US12). I'm not sure what the history of this site is.

https://www.google.com/maps/@46.4978684,-120.4414759,190m/data=!3m1!1e3

[machias]

There's a closed rest area that is getting quite weedy on I-81 in New York just south of Exit 32. Signs are still there with orange CLOSED or XX covering them. Relatively new signs for the Truck Inspection part that is still open have green overlays over the blue Rest Area mentions that have never seen the light of day.

[vdeane]

I really wish NY would just properly close the rest areas and acknowledge that they'll never reopen (barring politicians setting aside dedicated funding to do so, as was the case with the two on I-88) rather than continue the "temporarily closed" charade.

Personal opinion emphasized.

[kkt]

Temporarily closed.

(May reopen briefly just before the next gubernatorial election.)

[noelbotevera]

There's a closed rest area that is getting quite weedy on I-81 in New York just south of Exit 32. Signs are still there with orange CLOSED or XX covering them. Relatively new signs for the Truck Inspection part that is still open have green overlays over the blue Rest Area mentions that have never seen the light of day.

GSV shows that it is a truck inspection station. However there's a greenout on top of the sign that probably says "REST AREA".