A few comments on the Closed Exits thread made me think this deserves a thread of its own.
The Indiana Toll Road has a few.
MM 73 WB, used for a salt dome and maintenance yard: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.730319,-86.324091&spn=0.004652,0.010568&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=41.730319,-86.324091&panoid=M5g2aI1CqW7Ml0iWSAlZGw&cbp=12,12.3,,0,-1.01
MM 73 EB, used as a state police HQ. Last snack bar building left on the Toll Road: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.730322,-86.324086&spn=0.004652,0.010568&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=41.730537,-86.323359&panoid=Iy7qwXVZ2wjh66TD8t10Uw&cbp=12,166.62,,0,9.32
I-94, Michigan, MM 73 EB, former Oshtemo Rest Area: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=42.237023,-85.662251&spn=0.003263,0.005284&t=h&z=18
Streetview: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=42.237589,-85.663083&spn=0.003263,0.005284&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=42.237585,-85.663445&panoid=MrAOj7xjsKQiOv8EsqTDXQ&cbp=12,130.51,,0,-1.37
Others? With links and/or photographs, please.
The Jersey Turnpike had one on the northbound side where Exit 13A is now–it was named for Admiral William Halsey, but there was no corresponding Uncle Albert Service Area on the southbound side.
You can see the remnants on the Google Maps satellite view just to the right of the interchange: http://goo.gl/maps/zpsYw It's visible in the 1979 aerial view on HistoricAerials.com: http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=8E-06&lat=40.6663116502028&lon=-74.1797436928712&year=1979
Further south in the Garden State along I-295 Northbound in Burlington Twp.
In its final years of operation, this rest stop became known as the Howard Stern Rest Stop after 1995.
The southbound side of I-295 in the same area also shows traces of an abandoned rest stop.
I-295 Rest Stops (http://goo.gl/maps/EfvBJ)
In Sturbridge, MA along Mashapaug Road (former MA 15) before it meets I-84 Westbound; traces of what was once a rest stop & restaurant many decades ago.
Abandoned Rest Stop/Restaurant along Mashapaug Rd. (http://goo.gl/maps/LsB01)
After making my prior post I recalled that the Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike segment east of Breezewood had a service area, the Cove Valley service plaza. The site is visible (the current Turnpike routing is at the top left corner of the image): http://goo.gl/maps/y8Eo7 I have never been there. The picture on Wikipedia makes it look like the pavement is all that's left.
The Berkshire spur of the thruway has closed service plazas just west of exit B1. Many of the rest areas NY closed in 2011 probably count as well even though they're officially "temporary" (though the one on I-81 south of NY 49 is now signed solely as a truck inspection with all mentions of the former rest area removed).
Quote from: Brandon on January 10, 2014, 01:52:31 PM
I-94, Michigan, MM 73 EB, former Oshtemo Rest Area: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=42.237023,-85.662251&spn=0.003263,0.005284&t=h&z=18
Streetview: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=42.237589,-85.663083&spn=0.003263,0.005284&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=42.237585,-85.663445&panoid=MrAOj7xjsKQiOv8EsqTDXQ&cbp=12,130.51,,0,-1.37
Not that far away is the NB US-131 abandoned Portage rest area at MM 29 (https://goo.gl/maps/dtXVf), although it was converted to truck-only parking. I recall this one being abandoned before the Oshtemo rest area, however. A similar fate befell the I-69 NB rest area north of Tekonsha at approximately MM 28 (https://goo.gl/maps/ogTEx).
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 10, 2014, 03:23:40 PM
After making my prior post I recalled that the Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike segment east of Breezewood had a service area, the Cove Valley service plaza. The site is visible (the current Turnpike routing is at the top left corner of the image): http://goo.gl/maps/y8Eo7 I have never been there. The picture on Wikipedia makes it look like the pavement is all that's left.
Yes, that is all that's left: The parking lot, the curb around where the plaza building stood, and the service road that employees used to get to the plaza from Pumping Station Road.
CT 15 Wilbur Cross Parkway at about MM 45 at the top of the hill leading down to West Rock Tunnel. Couple of grassy areas with ghost ramps leading to and from them that are obviously remnants of old rest areas.
The northeast has quite a few of these.
I-91 NB just entering Vermont has an abandoned Welcome Center. This was closed in the early 2000s when the new center opened a few miles up the road. Buildings are gone but lights and parking lot remain overgrown.
I-95 NB in RI just before the RI-138 interchange has an abandoned Welcome Center. Most of it is still intact, as this area was only closed a couple years ago.
I-295 SB in RI just west of the Blackstone River bridge. The buildings are gone, but the ramps and lots are still there overgrown and occasionally used as a staging area for DOT equipment. This was abandoned back in 1989. The NB counterpart to this was abandoned for years but rebuilt and reopened years ago. Also near here is an abandoned weigh station on the SB side of the highway.
MA-2 WB just west of Gardner. This has been closed for years. Not sure if this ever had buildings, if it did they are gone.
I-195 EB in MA just inside the state line is an abandoned welcome center. Everything is still there, just boarded up. Closed about 5 years ago.
Vermont has quite a few abandoned rest areas that were closed in the last 10 years or so. I think there is also one on CT-8 NB somewhere near Torrington.
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 10, 2014, 03:23:40 PM
Cove Valley service plaza...
Here's what that looks like as of fall 2013–standing near the re-entry ramp and looking eastward, back toward the plaza. The two parallel lines of saplings and brush (going away from the camera) are where the fuel pump islands would have been located, and the dense square of trees and brush in the mid ground is the location of the former plaza building–which is surrounded by pavement on all sides. It's hard to see from this shot, but there's a large expanse of pavement (the main parking area) further behind.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.staticflickr.com%2F3669%2F11878131404_1fda3fba41_c.jpg&hash=55caa840d0f3f4658d8fd3737410b00093d6174c)
The photo below is from the opposite angle, standing at the exit ramp from the turnpike to the plaza. The Jersey barriers, turned 90° to the direction of travel, barricade what would have been the car entrance to the plaza. The truck entrance was to the right of that overgrown patch of trees, and there would have been a " <–CARS | TRUCKS –>" sign assembly right there. Around 2005, an approximately 4 ft. high and 10 ft. wide ridge of dirt running the entire length of the plaza area appeared over what used to be the curb and sidewalk separating the westbound lanes from the service plaza parking lot. As you can see, it has subsumed most of the right-hand through lane.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.staticflickr.com%2F3753%2F11878093603_3f5db1b6b7_c.jpg&hash=6913c874baaae9dbee6d18ec83e76319ff2261b5)
In addition to Cove Valley, the PA Turnpike has several other decommissioned and demolished service areas. The most similar to Cove Valley is Path Valley, located on the eastbound side just east of the Tuscarora Tunnel (http://bit.ly/1d8WIBJ (http://bit.ly/1d8WIBJ)). Path Valley was open until at least the early '80s, but business suffered greatly as motorists were drawn to the newer and larger Sideling Hill plaza (which served both directions whereas its predecessor served only westbound traffic). I found an article (http://bit.ly/1dkKlnC) in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette where Exxon and Howard Johnson's (who still had the concession contracts at the time) actually petitioned the PTC to close that plaza because it was a money-loser.
There were also plazas like this one (http://bit.ly/1aoitwK) near the US 222 interchange (Reading) where the plaza building was not demolished but instead sold to a private company and reused for other purposes. The former Denver Service Plaza is now Denver Cold Storage. I believe there are a few others that are still standing but used for another purpose–one just west of the US 15 interchange (http://bit.ly/1a7Tm0z) and I think another out west near Pittsburgh. There may be others.
Here is a pair of abandoned Rest Areas on I-90 between Ashtabula and Conneaut, OH
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=ashtabula+ohio&hl=en&ll=41.862817,-80.68413&spn=0.009748,0.026157&sll=41.730522,-86.326929&sspn=0.004916,0.013078&t=h&hnear=Ashtabula,+Ohio&z=16
A plausible reason for abandonment is because they were too close to the PA Welcome Center on EB I-90 about 10 minutes away and a newer hybrid OH Welcome Center/Weigh Station on WB I-90 just inside the Ohio line.
MA-2 westbound in Ayer, just before the Fort Devens exit. This was closed when the rest area just about 5 miles further down the road was upgraded. The pavement is mostly ripped up. but the light poles remain and the area is fenced off.
Though most of the rest areas recently closed in NY were considered "temporary" closures, the closure of the Schroon Lake rest areas on I-87 in the Adirondacks is permanent, due to failure of the septic systems and close proximity to the huge and new High Peaks rest areas. Everything at Schroon Lake is intact, including signage, but they are gated off.
There are two abandoned Service Areas on the Taconic Parkway. One just north of I-84 that is blocked off, and one further north at Todd Hill that is now a park and ride lot.
Northern State Parkway on Long Island has an abandoned service area at Dix Hills. The original 1930s stone building still remains, abandoned. A pair of similar abandoned 1930s service stations are abandoned on each side of the Sawmill Parkway in Hastings. Southern state parkway has an abandoned service station in Amityville, though all that remains are some closed ramps.
Kentucky has torn a few down, including I-64 eastbound near the Jefferson-Shelby county line (replaced by a new welcome center a bit farther east), some on I-65 between E-town and the Mammoth Cave area, and two on I-75 (one in each direction) in Madison County (ostensibly replaced by the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea but the facilities are not open 24/7). In each case, everything is torn down, including the ramps and the parking lots, and the contour of the area is changed.
Some weigh stations on I-64 have been closed as well, including between Shelbyville and Frankfort and one eastbound between Morehead and Olive Hill.
In most cases, if you didn't know they used to be there, you wouldn't know they had existed.
I-88 in New York has 2 rest areas in each direction. One in each direction is closed and probably will never be opened again.
(This is partly re-posted from the thread about closed exits)
There was a pair of rest areas on I-71 about 20 miles southwest of Columbus, OH. Someone told me they were closed due to prostitution activity going on there, but I think it was more likely the sprawling development in the Grove City area that made other "rest" options available. Also, there was a rather steep incline to access the area on the SB side. The ramps, now reduced to dirt paths, are still readily visible.
https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d5589!2d-83.1780545!3d39.8172118!2m1!1e3&fid=7
There is also an abandoned rest area on I-70 EB near St. Clairsville, OH. Not sure if it's barricaded off, and GSV shows heaps of gravel on the parking area, but the pavement seems to be fully intact. I have a distant memory, unconfirmed, that at one time you had to exit at the rest area and follow a long C/D-type road in order to get off at Mall Rd./Banfield Rd. Again, I think they closed this one due to nearby commercial development.
https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d4276!2d-80.8827202!3d40.0687087!2m1!1e3&fid=7
There were also two rest areas on I-70 in and around the Huber Heights, OH area near Dayton. The EB one was between the OH-202 and OH-201 exits, and on the WB side it was between OH-201 and the OH-4/OH-235 interchange. These disappeared in the early '80s, probably due to the increasing development in the area, and the ramps were seriously underpowered -- there was a very short, tight curve between the actual exit and the parking area. The EB location can be spotted by the wooded area along the route and a break in the brick soundwall. Evidence of the WB location seems to be obliterated.
EB location (http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=9.01708968255272E-06&lat=39.8684554674064&lon=-84.120530144108&year=1968)
WB location (http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=9.01708968255272E-06&lat=39.866379202288&lon=-84.0703410229355&year=1968)
How about this one, (https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d3849!2d-80.1943922!3d40.0869656!2m1!1e3&fid=7) on I-79 NB about 7 miles south of Washington, PA? It seems like half of the pavement -- the "lead-in" portion -- has been removed. There also a SB weigh station (https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d4357!2d-80.2065316!3d40.1220794!2m1!1e3&fid=7) in that vicinity that looks to have its building removed.
Quote from: lepidopteran on January 12, 2014, 01:42:33 AM
How about this one, (https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d3849!2d-80.1943922!3d40.0869656!2m1!1e3&fid=7) on I-79 NB about 7 miles south of Washington, PA? It seems like half of the pavement -- the "lead-in" portion -- has been removed.
No idea about that one. That's been that way as long as I can remember.
Quote from: lepidopteran on January 12, 2014, 01:42:33 AM
There also a SB weigh station (https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d4357!2d-80.2065316!3d40.1220794!2m1!1e3&fid=7) in that vicinity that looks to have its building removed.
Don't think that one ever had a building. I remember using it once in the last 10 years and it didn't have facilities back then.
Colorado closed rest areas both directions along I-25 between Colorado Springs and Denver, located around mile 170. This leaves a large gap between the rest areas near Pueblo at around mile 114, and the rest area near Ft. Collins at mile 268. The ostensible reason for closing the rest areas, which were located on the north side of Monument Hill, was difficulty in maintaining the septic systems. I heard also that there were issues with drug dealing and prostitution.
Those closed rest areas were repurposed as chain-up and chain-off stations, open only during periods of snow when truckers might require chains. Their location for that purpose seems not ideal, since southbound you have to climb a bit out of Castle Rock to reach the chain-up station.
Colorado seems to not like to keep rest areas!
I remember the rest stop near the WY state line on I-25. On the west side, southbound, it wasn't more than a wide shoulder parking area. On the east, northbound side it was more, a small parking lot you looped around through. There were signs talking about the unusual rock formation the highway splits as it goes through there - it's a "Natural Fort" and was the site of a battle between a couple of Native American tribes. The rocks got defaced a lot and access on and off the Interstate wasn't that great, I think those combined to the decision to close these down. You can still access the parking lot on the east side off of the gravel frontage road though. I've climbed around the rocks in the area a few times over the years. All of the signs are long gone, and this was never a full rest area with toilets.
https://maps.google.com/?ll=40.954331,-104.923671&spn=0.003768,0.006834&t=h&z=17
Now over on US34, just west of where it splits off of I-76, and north of Empire Reservoir, is this abandoned rest area. I have no idea how long ago it was shut down, it's ancient. The toilet building is still there, along with a sign or two. I've seen farm equipment parked around it at times over the years. I snapped this photo I'm guessing in the late 90s, maybe early 00s.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmembers.trainorders.com%2Fandroid%2Fmisc%2FUS34ClosedRestArea.jpg&hash=f7db5298d0fc58e6e7670dd04c6bf157c05bf49f)
Looking it up on Google Maps, still looks about the same:
https://maps.google.com/?ll=40.2753,-104.133192&spn=0.000982,0.001878&t=h&z=19
I-96 EB in Novi, MI. http://goo.gl/maps/uZlOh - The Rock Showplace now sits on the site, but you can see the remnants of the onramp near the NE section of the parking lot.
I-90 EB and WB near Sprague, WA. http://goo.gl/maps/Ufuza - All that is left is the graded land where the rest areas used to be. I remember them being there in the mid-90s.
I-77 south of the OH 241 exit used to have a couple of rest areas, one on the northbound side & one on the southbound side. Looking at Google Maps, I think I have pinpointed the location:
http://goo.gl/maps/WWI5N
I believe these were eliminated sometime in the 90s during a construction project along the highway.
I-95 northbound and southbound at the Rowley/Georgetown line. What are now only weigh stations were once full service plazas with gas stations and restaurants.
Quote from: roadman on January 13, 2014, 02:20:54 PM
I-95 northbound and southbound at the Rowley/Georgetown line. What are now only weigh stations were once full service plazas with gas stations and restaurants.
IIRC, those service plazas (along with other rest areas along that stretch of I-95) bit the dust when the DPW widened highway during the mid-70s.
Those weigh stations were constructed in the early-to-mid-80s when MA was forced by the feds to allow tandem-trailers to utilize Interstates. Prior to that time; tandem-trailers were only allowed along the Mass Pike (I-90). Such was a concession to those truckers when the the federal gas tax (which remained at 4 cents a gallon since 1959) was raised in 1982.
I wonder why the feds forced MA to allow tandem-trailers on interstates. In NY they're Thruway only.
Quote from: PHLBOS on January 13, 2014, 03:53:05 PM
Those weigh stations were constructed in the early-to-mid-80s when MA was forced by the feds to allow tandem-trailers to utilize Interstates. Prior to that time; tandem-trailers were only allowed along the Mass Pike (I-90). Such was a concession to those truckers when the the federal gas tax (which remained at 4 cents a gallon since 1959) was raised in 1982.
Are you sure about this?
http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/freight_analysis/nat_freight_stats/nhslongcombveh2011.htm
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/legsregs/directives/fapg/cfr06582.htm
QuoteACCESS: Makeup and breakup areas. Tandem trailer units shall not leave the Turnpike right-of-way and shall be assembled and disassembled only in designated areas.
Arkansas closed a pair of Rest Areas near Morrilton on I-40 after someone was murdered (2001?).
There's another near I-440 on EB I-40 that is almost totally overgrown.
MoDOT closed the Rest Areas near Halltown on I-44 and converted them to Truck Parking.
Driving down I-49 south of Shreveport, there appeasr to be never built Rest Areas with ramp stubs.
Quote from: PHLBOS on January 13, 2014, 03:53:05 PM
Quote from: roadman on January 13, 2014, 02:20:54 PM
I-95 northbound and southbound at the Rowley/Georgetown line. What are now only weigh stations were once full service plazas with gas stations and restaurants.
IIRC, those service plazas (along with other rest areas along that stretch of I-95) bit the dust when the DPW widened highway during the mid-70s.
That would make sense. As I understand it, the Feds paid for most of the I-95 widening project, so removal of the service plazas would be a logical condition of FHWA granting funding for the work. They imposed a similar condition on the re-construction of the Southeast Expressway in 1984-1985, which resulted in the closure of the Howard Johnson's at the Braintree Split.
Quote from: roadman on January 13, 2014, 05:56:25 PMThey imposed a similar condition on the re-construction of the Southeast Expressway in 1984-1985, which resulted in the closure of the Howard Johnson's at the Braintree Split.
Man. I completely forgot about that plaza until you mentioned it.
Quote from: briantroutman on January 10, 2014, 06:39:54 PM
There were also plazas...that are still standing but used for another purpose... I think another out west near Pittsburgh. There may be others.
Here is the third I couldn't remember: Pleasant Valley (http://bit.ly/1a3bifm)
The building still stands as Murraysville Machinery, and the ramps are still maintained as one of the PA Turnpike's many "PARK BEHIND LINE" turnouts.
And there's also Butler Valley, which was torn down to accommodate the Warrendale Toll Plaza, as well as the twin Neshaminy plazas, which were demolished to build off-ramps to a casino.
So in total, we have (west to east)
- Butler Valley - razed - mile 30 (WB)
- Pleasant Valley - standing - mile 63 (WB)
- Cove Valley - razed - mile 170 (WB)
- Path Valley - razed - mile 187 (EB)
- Mechanicsburg - standing - mile 234 (WB)
- Denver - standing - mile 279 (WB)
- North Neshaminy - razed - mile 352 (WB)
- South Neshaminy - razed - mile 352 (EB)
I-280 has abandoned vista points in San Mateo Co.
NY 104 had a rest area/scenic view westbound before Irondequoit Bay. NYSDOT took it over as a staging area during the reconstruction/widening project in the 90s and then never left. At some point, the town of Webster kicked NYSDOT out and the area is now vacant.
There is a pair on I-95 in Port Orange, FL. I first discovered these about 11 years ago and last drove past them about a year ago, at which time the buildings were still standing.
Northbound: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=29.085492,-81.017196&spn=0.006357,0.010214&t=h&z=17 (https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=29.085492,-81.017196&spn=0.006357,0.010214&t=h&z=17)
Southbound: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=29.095013,-81.023918&spn=0.003178,0.005107&t=h&z=18 (https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=29.095013,-81.023918&spn=0.003178,0.005107&t=h&z=18)
I would love to know the condition of the insides of these vintage buildings. It looks like the SB one is used for construction storage. I can't help but wonder if they maintain the restrooms for DOT employee use?
Apparently there was a rash of crimes here in the mid 80's. Whether that's the exact reason for the closure, I'm not sure.
Here's one such incident:
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1985-12-13/news/0340710282_1_port-orange-police-hannon-police-department (http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1985-12-13/news/0340710282_1_port-orange-police-hannon-police-department)
And here's a pair from I-95 in SC. I passed through here about a year ago also, and I believe these buildings were also still standing.
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=34.279502,-79.685222&spn=0.003005,0.005107&t=h&z=18 (https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=34.279502,-79.685222&spn=0.003005,0.005107&t=h&z=18)
Lastly, one from GA, I-85 Northbound, just before the I-985 split. I recall stopping here in the late 1990's after a long day at Six Flags.
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=34.037938,-84.036929&spn=0.003014,0.005107&t=h&z=18 (https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=34.037938,-84.036929&spn=0.003014,0.005107&t=h&z=18)
Quote from: briantroutman on January 13, 2014, 08:42:56 PM
Quote from: briantroutman on January 10, 2014, 06:39:54 PM
There were also plazas...that are still standing but used for another purpose... I think another out west near Pittsburgh. There may be others.
Here is the third I couldn't remember: Pleasant Valley (http://bit.ly/1a3bifm)
The building still stands as Murraysville Machinery, and the ramps are still maintained as one of the PA Turnpike's many "PARK BEHIND LINE" turnouts.
And there's also Butler Valley, which was torn down to accommodate the Warrendale Toll Plaza, as well as the twin Neshaminy plazas, which were demolished to build off-ramps to a casino.
So in total, we have (west to east)
- Butler Valley - razed - mile 30 (WB)
- Pleasant Valley - standing - mile 63 (WB)
- Cove Valley - razed - mile 170 (WB)
- Path Valley - razed - mile 187 (EB)
- Mechanicsburg - standing - mile 234 (WB)
- Denver - standing - mile 279 (WB)
- North Neshaminy - razed - mile 352 (WB)
- South Neshaminy - razed - mile 352 (EB)
There's a couple more than that....
There used to be one heading eastbound in between Beaver Valley & Cranberry exits.
http://goo.gl/maps/1t21z (http://goo.gl/maps/1t21z)
The carriageway I used for the link shows the old plaza, but if you switch GSV to the other carriageway you'll see a newer image with what looks like a maintenance building being built.
Also eastbound, there was a service plaza just before the New Stanton interchange. While I remember eating there every now and then growing up, I appreciate the wider turnpike that's there now.
Another one in Michigan is US-10 WB as you go around the north side of Midland.
Quote from: Mr_Northside on January 14, 2014, 07:04:01 PM
There's a couple more than that....
Right–and I missed a few more, too.
The one you linked was Zelienople–which for some reason, I thought was still open. The PTC closed it in late 2008. Apparently, HMS Host said the plaza was a poor performer, and they didn't want to invest in an extensive remodel as they're doing with the remaining plazas. (According to the Post-Gazette: http://bit.ly/KhMNyq)
The other you mentioned was Hempfield, which actually had a few closures in its lifetime but was finally shut down for good in 2007.
I also missed both Laurel Hill and New Baltimore–both of which must have been closed and demolished early on. Aerial photos as early as 1958 appear to show the New Baltimore plaza having already been demolished. Laurel Hill has been difficult to find, though. The early ("˜40s) tourist maps seems to put it a mile or so east of the tunnel, but can hardly even make out traces of the site today. Perhaps the twinning of the South Somerset plaza (which appears to have been around 1953-54) resulted in the closure of both smaller plazas.
So unless I'm missing anything else, the full list should be:
- Zelienople - razed - mile 21 (EB)
- Butler Valley - razed - mile 30 (WB)
- Pleasant Valley - standing - mile 63 (WB)
- Hempfield - razed - mile 74 (EB)
- Laurel Hill - razed - mile 101 (?) (EB)
- New Baltimore - razed - mile 120 (EB)
- Cove Valley - razed - mile 170 (WB)
- Path Valley - razed - mile 187 (EB)
- Mechanicsburg - standing - mile 234 (WB)
- Denver - standing - mile 279 (WB)
- North Neshaminy - razed - mile 352 (WB)
- South Neshaminy - razed - mile 352 (EB)
On Cape Cod:
US-6 eastbound in Dennis just after the Bass River bridge. This was closed in the early 80s due to crime issues. Not sure if there ever was a building but if there was it is gone. There is some unofficial talk of this being re-opened as a parking/access area for the new extension of the Cape Cod Rail Trail, which will parallel US-6 in this area.
There used to be one on OH-37 north of Lancaster (https://maps.google.com/?ll=39.791403,-82.572041&spn=0.00338,0.008256&t=h&z=18).
Quote from: GaryV on January 14, 2014, 07:13:00 PM
Another one in Michigan is US-10 WB as you go around the north side of Midland.
Also US-127 SB near Alma.
Carrying this over from the 'Closed Exits' topic:
Quote...the closed NB Rest Area on I-295 in NJ is now signed with a black on gray "Springfield Yard" sign. The main entrance is blocked by a jersey barrier (a modified ramp exists where traffic used to exit the rest area). And thru the trees, you can see the old building still intact. Maybe DOT will use this for a sub-yard, such as for snow/salting operatings or the like in the future...
Today: This definitely looks like an impromptu salt yard for NJDOT vehicles: the former truck parking area of the rest stop now has a long pile of salt covered by tarp; the jersey barrier from the former entrance has been moved off to the side. The building remains as well, although it's impossible to tell from the roadway if the electric and utilites (bathrooms) are still operational.
There used to be 2 primitive ones on OH 4 in northern Ohio that were only 20 miles apart. I can remember both being open in the 90's, possibly early 2000's.
This one south of Attica still has the buildings standing, and I'm pretty sure it was sold.
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.037568,-82.901111&spn=0.001062,0.002309&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=41.037568,-82.901111&panoid=LaWZt7a3QCW23-egsNPmgw&cbp=12,82.71,,0,5.04
The other was soutwest of Bucyrus.
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=40.762069,-83.015345&spn=0.002149,0.004619&t=h&z=18
I also remember another one on US 23 near the Ross/Pike line. It was distinctive in that the parking lot and restroom building were on either side of a creek, with a little bridge connecting them. As a little kid I always "had to pee" when we approached that one, because I liked walking across that bridge. I'm having trouble pin pointing it's exact location on google maps, but I know it closed in the mid 90's when a new modern rest area was built in Scioto County.
Here's another in Ohio, on the old routing of US-24, just west of US-127. This closed several years ago, but GSV's images are old enough to still show it:
http://goo.gl/maps/qWTCs
The aerial view shows all the buildings removed:
http://goo.gl/maps/a61eN
More of a pull-off area than a rest area, but NJ 42 originally had 3 or 4 rest areas (yeah, for the whole 7 mile freeway section). One was located on Rt. 42 South just south of the Creek Rd interchange. Another on Rt. 42 North at about the location where Rt. 55 North touches down and merges with Rt. 42 North.
There was another 1 (NB) or 2 (1 NB & 1 SB) near where 42 meets the AC Expressway, about in the location of the new College Drive interchange.
I only really remember them as closed off in the 80's, with mounds of dirt preventing entry. The pull off area had nothing to it - no buildings or even parking spaces. As construction projects occurred along Rt. 42, the rest areas disappeared. Today, there's no evidence where they existed, except on sites like historicalaerials.
Rest Area off I-195 East in Swansea, MA between Exits 2 & 3 (more close-up GSV photos show this rest area as Open). Not 100% sure which GSV photo(s) are more recent nor regarding its current status. (http://goo.gl/maps/fIZdS)
The EB rest area on 195 in Swansea is closed, and has been for about 2 years now. Used to be a Mass Welcome Center. Probably closed when MA closed some of their info centers (Chelmsford on 495, Lee and Charlton on the Mass Pike) die to budget cuts.
Not the same, but there's an unbuilt service plaza site on the Muskogee Turnpike just south ("east") of Muskogee. The traffic levels on that stretch of turnpike are too low to support it.
There are several abandoned rest areas in Oklahoma that were inside of Oklahoma Ys. There is one at the former US 59/270/271 intersection just southwest of Poteau.
Louisiana has more or less been phasing out its interstate rest areas with the exception of the state welcome centers and a few scattered survivors.
These have been closed, virtually all in the last 15 years:
I-10: WB between Sulphur and Vinton; some concrete remains, but is located far back from the highway
I-10: a pair east of the Mermentau River crossing east of Jennings; virtually nothing remains
I-10: a pair in Lafayette; EB was located just west of the Louisiana Avenue interchange, WB was located just east of same interchange; little if any remains exist
I-10: a pair between LA 3000 and LA 77 west of Grosse Tete; few remains
I-10: a pair between LA 22 and LA 44 in Sorrento, just west of the LA 941 overpass; few remains
I-12: a pair just west of LA 441 in Holden; looks like they were very bare bones; you would never know they were there from the highway, but some remains exist behind the trees
I-12: a pair just south of Covington just west of the Tchefuncte River crossing, now an exit for a recently constructed local road leading to two large shopping centers
I-20: a pair east of the LA 159 exit in Haughton; substantial remains exist per Google maps
I-20: a pair west of the LA 154 exit in Gibsland; some remains exist; these were apparently not very elaborate in any case and were probably similar to the still-surviving Choudrant rest areas
I-20: a pair between LA 17 and LA 609 west of Delhi; some remains exist; bare bones like their cousins to the west
I-20: EB opposite from the welcome center near Mound; identical in design to its cousin; ROW is still demarcated but no remains otherwise
I-55: NB just north of LA 10 exit; concrete remains but hidden behind trees
I-55: a pair north of the LA 3234 exit and south of the LA 1064 overpass in Hammond; these were nice sized facilities; the SB has substantial remains, while most of the site of the NB rest area is covered by an apartment complex
I don't think there are any closed rest stops on I-49, which was constructed with minimal facilities (there is one still-extant rest stop/day-use area in St. Landry Parish that serves both directions).
DOTD probably considers the rest areas' original reason for being to be obsolete, given that nearly every highway interchange now has at least a few traveler services (and a Waffle House :sombrero:) - not the case, of course, when the interstates were new and the interchanges unspoiled by development.
It was claimed here: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB124656938899088487
that the state closed 24 of 34 rest areas between 2000-2009, so I think that captures all but one of them.
Here in Southern California:
CA-91: Before Imperial Hwy in Anaheim in both directions. Currently serves as a CHP weigh station.
I-10: Right after Citrus Ave Westbound in Fontana.
Theres probably more in Socal. I will have to do some exploring in HistoricAerials to find more.
CT:
(previously mentioned)
CT 8 - north of Thomaston - an old black on white sign once stated it was a weigh station. Abandoned.
CT 15 - WCP - between Exits 58 & 59 - remains of a picnic area/parking area, NB/SB.
CT 15 - WCP - between Exits 66 & 67 - I believe there used to be something here, removed in the 80s?
VT: I-89:
MM 9 - SB - Rest Area abandoned. Building torn down. Signed today as a weigh station. Access closed when area not open.
MM 21 - NB - Parking Area abandoned. Pavement removed. No sign of this area exists, except a berm about a mile before Exit 3
MM 34 - NB - Rest Area abandoned. Same as MM 9-SB.
MM 130 - SB - Welcome Center abandoned. Building torn down. Access closed.
VT: I-91:
MM 0 - NB - Welcome Center abandoned. Building torn down. Access closed. Occasional use as a weigh station.
MM 2/3 - NB/SB - Parking Area partially abandoned. Public access. No signage or breaks in line striping.
MM 25/26 - NB/SB - Parking Area, former Rest Areas. Buildings removed in the 90s. Believe there were ADA issues here.
MM 39 - NB/SB - Weigh Station, former Parking Areas. Converted due to drug/crime activity. Gated when no weighing in progress.
MM 68 - NB - Rest Area abandoned. Building torn down. Signed today as a weigh station. Gated when no weighing in progress.
MM 106 - SB - Parking Area, former Rest Area. Building removed ???.
MM 154 - NB - Parking Area with a very u-shaped parking lot. Was there ever a building here?
MM 166.5 - NB/SB - Parking Area which seems large enough to have had a building at one time.
ME:
Maine Tpke between Exits 86 & 102 - abandoned service areas. Buildings removed. Areas gated. Replaced with new facility at Int 102/103
I-95 just north of Augusta - Rest Areas abandoned. NB removed/SB now a weigh station. Closed around the time the ME 3 bypass opened
I-95 betw Exits 138 & 150 - Pittsfield Rest Areas closed. Present status unknown.
PA I-81:
NB/SB MM102 - never had facilities, to my knowledge (Old AAA maps show them as such).
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=40.571246,-76.416478&spn=0.01079,0.019269&t=h&z=16 (https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=40.571246,-76.416478&spn=0.01079,0.019269&t=h&z=16)
NB/SB MM132 - same as above.
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=40.819493,-76.087768&spn=0.005375,0.009634&t=h&z=17 (https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=40.819493,-76.087768&spn=0.005375,0.009634&t=h&z=17)
On a semi-related note - I-80 between I-81 and the NJ state line, there are 2 rest areas EB, a mere 22 miles apart, but none WB (other than the Welcome Center). I thought perhaps the WB counterparts were closed down but I don't see any evidence of them ever having existed. Anyone know if I'm missing something here?
Quote from: Marc_in_CT on January 17, 2014, 03:44:33 PM
On a semi-related note - I-80 between I-81 and the NJ state line, there are 2 rest areas EB, a mere 22 miles apart, but none WB (other than the Welcome Center). I thought perhaps the WB counterparts were closed down but I don't see any evidence of them ever having existed. Anyone know if I'm missing something here?
Just after the Route 33 exit, it looks like there was once a rest area on the westbound side. https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.010265,-75.293732&spn=0.003497,0.006968&t=h&z=18
Getting back to Ohio, it seems like the most random of places had rest areas. While cleaning up the wiki article for SR 518 in southern Columbiana County, there was a rest area here (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.698092,-80.74726&hl=en&ll=40.698182,-80.747049&spn=0.003498,0.006968&num=1&t=h&z=18) that housed a memorial (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_H._Morgan_Surrender_Site) to a Civil War surrender. I'm surprised that it took all the way to 1999 for ODOT to give up on that rest area and even that was only because the bathrooms didn't have a septic tank. (http://old.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030721morganreg5p4.asp)
There was a pair of rest areas on on opposite sides of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, or MD-295, just north of where the Arundel Mills Blvd. interchange is now, partly sharing the same footprint in fact. These weren't really "rest areas" as we know it, though. All the areas had was a strip of pavement parallel with the highway, and a string of payphones on the left, close enough to call from your car. I think the signage on the BW Parkway said "Pay Phone Rest Area" or something to that effect. Rather unusual concept, I must say.
These rest areas must have closed some 15 years ago to make way for the Arundel Mills Blvd. exit. No big loss, it seems, since cell phones were starting to become commonplace by then. Since the spaces were re-landscaped for the ramps, and the rest areas were quite narrow to begin with, little if any evidence of them appears to remain.
I recall there being phones like that somewhere on the New York Thruway in the 1980s, somewhere between I-84 and Albany.
There are two closed Rest Areas on WB I-10 in the Los Angeles area, one near Colton, the other near Yucaipa. I-5 just north of SR-14 used to have a SB rest area, not sure when it was closed but it was at least by the early 1980's.
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 10, 2014, 02:55:28 PM
The Jersey Turnpike had one on the northbound side where Exit 13A is now–it was named for Admiral William Halsey, but there was no corresponding Uncle Albert Service Area on the southbound side.
We're so sorry, Uncle Albert. :poke:
Quote from: sdmichael on February 04, 2014, 11:24:59 PM
There are two closed Rest Areas on WB I-10 in the Los Angeles area, one near Colton, the other near Yucaipa. I-5 just north of SR-14 used to have a SB rest area, not sure when it was closed but it was at least by the early 1980's.
I don't remember the one on I-5.
About 40 or 50 miles east of Yuma are a couple of abandoned rest areas on I-8 that still have the buildings and such.
The ones east of Yuma are still active. I stopped at one westbound in the last year.
Was there ever a rest area on Interstate 15 at the Riverside/San Diego County border? On a 1997 California Road Atlas and Drivers Guide from Thomas Bros Maps I used to have, it showed a rest area near Temecula. It might of been a printing error or maybe they did exist. Could the rest area been converted to a park & ride lot (There is one at the CA-79 Temecula Pkwy exit)? Could the rest areas would have been where the truck scales are now?
It was that blue book with a Interstate 5 shield. California's Most Comprehensive Guide to Highway & City Travel.
Quote from: sdmichael on February 12, 2014, 12:54:55 AM
The ones east of Yuma are still active. I stopped at one westbound in the last year.
One of those east of Yuma is closed and I saw plenty of other closed ones in Arizona on my recent visit.
Quote from: sdmichael on February 04, 2014, 11:24:59 PM
I-5 just north of SR-14 used to have a SB rest area, not sure when it was closed but it was at least by the early 1980's.
That's very cool. I didn't remember that one, but you can still see its footprint on Google Maps.
Did not I-80 in New Jersey used to have one in Hasbrouck Heights just west of NJ 17? I thought I remember seeing a sign for it years ago. As we all know NJ hates rest areas and if they're not closing them down completely, there just banning cars from them while letting truckers still use them. So it would make perfect sense to of had one to later be closed.
Quote from: roadman65 on February 17, 2014, 07:24:17 PM
Did not I-80 in New Jersey used to have one in Hasbrouck Heights just west of NJ 17? I thought I remember seeing a sign for it years ago. As we all know NJ hates rest areas and if they're not closing them down completely, there just banning cars from them while letting truckers still use them. So it would make perfect sense to of had one to later be closed.
Find some evidence on Historic Aerials and we'll talk.
Quote from: KEK Inc. on January 13, 2014, 09:02:08 PM
I-280 has abandoned vista points in San Mateo Co.
Yes, and it's a damn shame. They had some lovely views.
Quote from: Alps on February 17, 2014, 08:38:20 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on February 17, 2014, 07:24:17 PM
Did not I-80 in New Jersey used to have one in Hasbrouck Heights just west of NJ 17? I thought I remember seeing a sign for it years ago. As we all know NJ hates rest areas and if they're not closing them down completely, there just banning cars from them while letting truckers still use them. So it would make perfect sense to of had one to later be closed.
Find some evidence on Historic Aerials and we'll talk.
Thanks for pointing that one out. Yes, I see it in the 1970 image. I forgot all about the historic aerials. As far as talking, I think I already said my point that NJ hates rest areas, but what I did not say is that its for good reasons as the late teens early adults ruined them with their parties back when I was in school in the 1980s. The Glenside Rest Area on the GSP, for one, was closed because of its close approximatey to a grade school as teens were partying in the woods between the Parkway and the school.
Also, as I misspelled one word here, you can crucify me all you want for it even if Dan has a fatal heart attack. I do not feel that I should spend even a second to look up a word that is fairly obvious what it is because the English language has too many flaws.
I don't think it's that NJ hates rest areas; but rather why keep them open? Many states have closed their rest areas as well, and those rest areas are in rural areas. In NJ, you rarely have to go that far to 'rest'. On I-295, the rest areas around MP 50 have closed, but there are plenty of facilities at Exit 47 & Exit 56 for one to use.
The rest area/welcome center near the south end of 295 in NJ remains open, albeit with restricted hours.
Well they do because NJ considers it a chore rather than a service. Like you said most places have adequate services at interchanges, so who needs them.
However, I-78 does not have too many interchanges at all with ideal services. Only Exits 3, 15, and 58 have full amenities. I-78, FYI has no full service rest areas eastbound its entire run. WB at least has the PA Welcome Center. It probably will not get much as the demand is not there. Any tourist leaving NYC will not get tired until way into PA even if they leave late in the afternoon for places that are days away. Those heading EB if they get tired around 6 or later would soon rather travel the 68 miles or less to the NYC area. Hotels are not really that important for I-78 users at that point.
It could use them for restrooms as I have found many places do not offer facilities to the general public along the Route 78 corridor.
The US 221 Rest Area (which also served the Blue Ridge Parkway) in Watauga County, North Carolina is closed. - http://goo.gl/maps/YSNrv
I discovered that the hard way. It's a shame, because it's really hard to find a place to piss on the Parkway in the winter when all the attractions are closed, and this rest area was useful in that regard.
I read about one in Cincinnati (I think on cincinnatitransit.net) that used to be on I-275 near the Ward's Corner Rd. exit. I think I found where it used to be:
http://goo.gl/maps/8iOXR
Quote from: lepidopteran on February 04, 2014, 08:23:57 PM
There was a pair of rest areas on on opposite sides of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, or MD-295, just north of where the Arundel Mills Blvd. interchange is now, partly sharing the same footprint in fact. These weren't really "rest areas" as we know it, though. All the areas had was a strip of pavement parallel with the highway, and a string of payphones on the left, close enough to call from your car. I think the signage on the BW Parkway said "Pay Phone Rest Area" or something to that effect. Rather unusual concept, I must say.
Agreed that those were unconventional. The facilities that were really lacking there were restrooms. Though there have always been "regular" rest areas along I-95 between I-495 and I-895 at North Laurel in Howard County.
QuoteThese rest areas must have closed some 15 years ago to make way for the Arundel Mills Blvd. exit. No big loss, it seems, since cell phones were starting to become commonplace by then. Since the spaces were re-landscaped for the ramps, and the rest areas were quite narrow to begin with, little if any evidence of them appears to remain.
Agreed. They were located at about the place where the Arundel Mills Boulevard interchange is located today. Also, this location is part of the state-maintained (Md. 295) part of the Parkway.
Quote from: DSS5 on February 23, 2014, 09:50:40 AM
I discovered that the hard way. It's a shame, because it's really hard to find a place to piss on the Parkway in the winter when all the attractions are closed, and this rest area was useful in that regard.
Agreed. Years ago, when driving the entire Blue Ridge Parkway from Shenandoah National Park to Smoky Mountains National Park, I had a sudden and urgent need for restroom break on the Parkway in the early spring, before any of the attractions were open. Fortunately, I was near U.S. 58 (Business U.S. 58 now) at Meadows of Dan, Va. and found a service station with excellent and clean facilities.
Quote from: cpzilliacus on March 02, 2014, 06:01:27 PM
I had a sudden and urgent need for restroom break on the Parkway in the early spring, before any of the attractions were open.
Pooing is cool.
Quote from: busman_49 on March 02, 2014, 05:47:07 PM
I read about one in Cincinnati (I think on cincinnatitransit.net) that used to be on I-275 near the Ward's Corner Rd. exit. I think I found where it used to be:
http://goo.gl/maps/8iOXR
Nope. It's further south, below Milford Parkway.
Quote from: Marc_in_CT on January 14, 2014, 04:19:32 PM
There is a pair on I-95 in Port Orange, FL. I first discovered these about 11 years ago and last drove past them about a year ago, at which time the buildings were still standing.
Northbound: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=29.085492,-81.017196&spn=0.006357,0.010214&t=h&z=17 (https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=29.085492,-81.017196&spn=0.006357,0.010214&t=h&z=17)
Southbound: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=29.095013,-81.023918&spn=0.003178,0.005107&t=h&z=18 (https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=29.095013,-81.023918&spn=0.003178,0.005107&t=h&z=18)
I would love to know the condition of the insides of these vintage buildings. It looks like the SB one is used for construction storage. I can't help but wonder if they maintain the restrooms for DOT employee use?
As I was perusing this thread I was thinking how Florida hardly ever closes a rest area, but instead have rebuilt and expanded the original 60's-era rest areas on I-75 and I-95. This pair in Port Orange is the exception.
There's something quaint about the 60's-era buildings until you go inside and realize how dark, cramped and gross they are.
Quote from: RG407 on March 03, 2014, 12:25:51 AM
As I was perusing this thread I was thinking how Florida hardly ever closes a rest area, but instead have rebuilt and expanded the original 60's-era rest areas on I-75 and I-95. This pair in Port Orange is the exception.
FDOT closed a pair on I-4 at mile 70 once sprawl had reached that far; retention ponds now sit there.
Quote from: lepidopteran on January 11, 2014, 09:34:12 PM
(This is partly re-posted from the thread about closed exits)
There was a pair of rest areas on I-71 about 20 miles southwest of Columbus, OH. Someone told me they were closed due to prostitution activity going on there, but I think it was more likely the sprawling development in the Grove City area that made other "rest" options available. Also, there was a rather steep incline to access the area on the SB side. The ramps, now reduced to dirt paths, are still readily visible.
https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d5589!2d-83.1780545!3d39.8172118!2m1!1e3&fid=7
I don't buy the "nearby rest options" story. If proximity to nearby for-profit services were a reason to close a rest area in Ohio, then why is the one on I-75 near Hamilton still around?
Quote from: vtk on March 03, 2014, 10:27:43 AM
I don't buy the "nearby rest options" story. If proximity to nearby for-profit services were a reason to close a rest area in Ohio, then why is the one on I-75 near Hamilton still around?
Yes, existence of a fast food strip or whatever is
not a good reason for closing a rest area.
The fast food strip may be a mile from the exit and through several lights and long distance drivers won't want to deal with it.
The driver may need a nap or potty break, and not food. Most fast food places won't be thrilled to have someone taking up space in their parking lot who didn't buy something.
Some long distance drivers are traveling with dogs and need a place to walk them and let them run around for a little while.
There may not be space for a big rig in the parking lot, and the turns getting there may be too tight.
We should make it as easy as possible for long-distance drivers to take the breaks they need. I'm sure I'm preaching to the converted here.
Quote from: NE2 on March 03, 2014, 01:24:03 AM
Quote from: RG407 on March 03, 2014, 12:25:51 AM
As I was perusing this thread I was thinking how Florida hardly ever closes a rest area, but instead have rebuilt and expanded the original 60's-era rest areas on I-75 and I-95. This pair in Port Orange is the exception.
FDOT closed a pair on I-4 at mile 70 once sprawl had reached that far; retention ponds now sit there.
Of course! How could I forget those? It helped that there are rest areas about 30 miles to the west near Lakeland and 30 miles to the east near SR434 in Seminole County.
Quote from: NE2 on March 03, 2014, 01:24:03 AM
FDOT closed a pair on I-4 at mile 70 once sprawl had reached that far; retention ponds now sit there.
They also closed one along US 41 just south of Spring Hill Drive in Garden Grove more than a dozen years ago, and I recently found out the one along US 98 near the Withlacoochee River at the Pasco-Hernando County Line was closed too.
While driving to Gatlinburg, TN today and passing where the rest areas used to be around mm 82 on I-75 near Richmond, KY (which HB mentioned on page 1 of this thread), it reminded me of a couple of others that are abandoned or have disappeared.
I-71 used to have two small rest areas around mm 179 north of Seville, OH. Unless one knew about them, one would not know they were even there. They both were on a small hillside. They probably were abandoned because of the renovated rest areas near mm 198 further up the interstate.
Around mm 51 on I-71 between Carrollton, KY and Sparta, KY are abandoned rest areas on both sides.
There looks to be an abandoned rest area/scenic view around mm 147 on I-75 southbound in Tennessee. You can see the mounds of dirt blocking the entrance and exit ramps as well as where the pavement is in the woods there.
If we included abandoned scale houses, in Kentucky there are two more that I know of. One is on I-71 just east of Campbellsburg at mm 35 on both sides. The ramps, pavement, and some lightpoles are still there. The other is now completely gone. It used to be at mm 43 on I-75 north of London. This was replaced by the larger, modern scale house at mm 33 north of Corbin. The only evidence left is just a clearing on both sides at mm 43.
Quote from: vtk on March 03, 2014, 10:27:43 AM
Quote from: lepidopteran on January 11, 2014, 09:34:12 PM
(This is partly re-posted from the thread about closed exits)
There was a pair of rest areas on I-71 about 20 miles southwest of Columbus, OH. Someone told me they were closed due to prostitution activity going on there, but I think it was more likely the sprawling development in the Grove City area that made other "rest" options available. Also, there was a rather steep incline to access the area on the SB side. The ramps, now reduced to dirt paths, are still readily visible.
https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d5589!2d-83.1780545!3d39.8172118!2m1!1e3&fid=7
I don't buy the "nearby rest options" story.
Come to think of it, the reason probably has something to do with this rest area's proximity to the environmentally-sensitive Big Darby Creek. There's no municipal water & sewer service at that location. It's possible ODOT was unable to secure at reasonable cost a renewal of the necessary permits to operate its own water & septic system for the rest areas. (It sounds plausible to me that renewal could have been contingent on upgrading those systems to better protect the Darby after its environmental sensitivity was recognized.)
I could probably do some actual research on this, but that's not how I'd like to allocate my free time today.
Quote from: amroad17 on March 12, 2014, 09:45:07 PM
Around mm 51 on I-71 between Carrollton, KY and Sparta, KY are abandoned rest areas on both sides.
I don't know if those are abandoned rest areas as much as being places where ramps were built for rest areas that were never built.
Kentucky also took out a weigh station on westbound I-64 between Frankfort and Shelbyville, and one eastbound between Morehead and Olive Hill.
That could be true. They have been like this since I moved to Northern Kentucky in late 1994.
This could be the same situation with the two rest areas on I-64 near Corydon, IN. The last time I was around there, they were simply parking areas.
Quote from: amroad17 on March 12, 2014, 09:45:07 PM
I-71 used to have two small rest areas around mm 179 north of Seville, OH. Unless one knew about them, one would not know they were even there. They both were on a small hillside. They probably were abandoned because of the renovated rest areas near mm 198 further up the interstate.
I was thinking about these, but never got around to posting. They are (were) actually between the Mansfield (US 30) and Ashland (US 250) exits. I don't know if it was due to the renovated rest areas further up the highway, or because of the highway's widening that did these rest areas in. Instead of adding the extra lane in the middle of the highway (as had been done on the rest of the stretch of road), they had to add the extra lane on the outside of the highway due to the terrain in that particular spot and that encroached on the rest areas' ramps.
You are probably true in that assessment. The rest areas were very close to I-71 and with the widening, there would have been no space between the end of the hill and the right lane of the freeway.
Quote from: amroad17 on March 18, 2014, 08:50:39 PM
You are probably true in that assessment. The rest areas were very close to I-71 and with the widening, there would have been no space between the end of the hill and the right lane of the freeway.
Considering most nights, semis used to jam that particular set of Rest Areas -- including up to 1/4 mile of shoulder before and after the rest area ramps (power in numbers, perhaps???) -- it was the right thing to do!
MDOT just got rid of (http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-9620-314535--,00.html) the rest area on southbound US 127 near Higgins Lake in December, because not enough people used it to justify remodeling. I'll try to get photos of whatever's left in April.
This topic got me wondering, when did the number of rest areas peak in each state? When did the last new rest area (that didn't replace an existing area) open in each state?
In Michigan, the last new rest area appears to be on M-28 just west of Seney, opened in 1999. US 2 has a rest area of the same vintage near Garden Corners. No freeway segment built in 2000 or later has any rest areas, but they're all relatively short.
Quote from: getemngo on March 19, 2014, 01:12:53 PM
MDOT just got rid of (http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-9620-314535--,00.html) the rest area on southbound US 127 near Higgins Lake in December, because not enough people used it to justify remodeling. I'll try to get photos of whatever's left in April.
This topic got me wondering, when did the number of rest areas peak in each state? When did the last new rest area (that didn't replace an existing area) open in each state?
In Michigan, the last new rest area appears to be on M-28 just west of Seney, opened in 1999. US 2 has a rest area of the same vintage near Garden Corners. No freeway segment built in 2000 or later has any rest areas, but they're all relatively short.
I have to think DeWitt is newer, since I don't think it was constructed until some years after the segment of US 127 was opened to traffic. Woodbury might also have opened in the 2000s.
In Denton County Texas, there are at least 3 picnic areas that I know of that have closed. One was on US 377 at FM 407. It was removed in the 80's. The one on I-35W just west of it closed In the last 8 years. TxDOT had been wanting to close it for years due to motorists littering it and defecating everywhere. They finally got to close it due to the fact an interchange with a new street is planned for it's former location, and because of trucks idling in an area that already has too much pollution.
The third was on US 77 near Mayhill Rd. It appears on old maps, but obviously is no longer there.
Quote from: Brian556 on March 24, 2014, 08:29:54 PM
TxDOT had been wanting to close it for years due to motorists littering it and defecating everywhere.
Pooing is cool.
Not when you're the one that has to clean it up.
Quote from: Beeper1 on January 11, 2014, 06:23:27 PM
MA-2 westbound in Ayer, just before the Fort Devens exit. This was closed when the rest area just about 5 miles further down the road was upgraded. The pavement is mostly ripped up. but the light poles remain and the area is fenced off.
One lone picnic table is very visible near the road.
There is also something that looks like some kind of abandoned pulloff eastbound at about MP 105.6 in Lancaster:
http://maps.google.com/?q=42.518850,-71.653173&ftid=0x0:0x0&hl=en&gl=us
It's very short, but the guardrail bulges out around it, and it's evident enough for them to post "no trespassing" signs.
Bing shows it much more clearly but for the life of me I can't make a bookmark from a Bing mobile map.
The lower-case "m"-shaped pullout in this photo here https://www.google.com/maps/@39.2277334,-108.8725664,325m/data=!3m1!1e3 looks to be the remnants of an old, long-gone rest area along old US-6/US-50 near the Colorado-Utah border in Mack, CO in the days before I-70 was completed.
For those traveling east out of Utah, this was a real welcomed sight for sore eyes.
Quote from: Brian556 on March 24, 2014, 08:29:54 PM
In Denton County Texas, there are at least 3 picnic areas that I know of that have closed.
{snip}
The one on I-35W just west of it closed In the last 8 years. TxDOT had been wanting to close it for years due to motorists littering it and defecating everywhere. They finally got to close it due to the fact an interchange with a new street is planned for it's former location, and because of trucks idling in an area that already has too much pollution.
Wouldn't that tell TxDOT that real restroom facilities might just be a far better idea than just a flipping picnic table in the middle of nowhere?
I think you need to go a few miles south, around MP 60...
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1431666,-84.2646511,564m
This one has always been curious to me, for being on a loop highway in a (semi) urban area.
Quote from: busman_49 on March 02, 2014, 05:47:07 PM
I read about one in Cincinnati (I think on cincinnatitransit.net) that used to be on I-275 near the Ward's Corner Rd. exit. I think I found where it used to be:
http://goo.gl/maps/8iOXR
The rest area on Interstate 55 northbound in Memphis was torn down in 2012 to reportedly make way for a new rest area. It has yet to be constructed and don't know if it ever will be. All that is left is a pyramid-looking piece of artwork out front.
Before: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.041276,-90.004174,3a,75y,33.28h,82.64t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s4sZ3Eon6m54xW5yij4m6Jw!2e0
After: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.041206,-90.004755,3a,50.1y,48.48h,89.7t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sC-W3gVw2pgccdJxpm-DWug!2e0
That was one of the few rest areas in a suburban area. Most rest areas are built in rural locations or just outside the suburban area. The two in Florence, KY on I-75 used to be just outside the suburban area. Now it is in the suburban area with the growth in Northern Kentucky. You could also say the two on I-71 outside of Louisville are in a suburban area.
As far as the two that used to be on I-275 near Milford, OH, I remember seeing a sign between the Eastgate (OH 32) exit and the rest area mentioning that new modern rest areas were located 30 miles away on both I-71 and I-75 after they were abandoned. These two rest areas had to be abandoned sometime between 1978 to 1990 as I remember seeing a Rand McNally map from 1978 showing the two rest areas in use. Plus the sign that was put up looked to be an early 1980's sign.
Resurrecting:
I seem to recall a primitive no services rest stop on US 15 northbound south of Dillsburg. Historical Aerials and Google Maps are pointing me to believe it was between Cabin Hollow Road and Glenwood Road. (I had thought it was closer to Scotch Pine Rd) Street View shows the beginning of a pull off road, with several "No Parking" signs to boot. 40.08046 N/77.05044 W are the coordinates.
There's an abandoned and razed rest area on I-64 in Louisa County, Virginia, in both directions, just east of the VA 208 exit:
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9105139,-78.0623003,878m/data=!3m1!1e3
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9082522,-78.0599284,3a,75y,356.78h,87.93t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sw0c8b2jJJ9yZKOTDfXU1fw!2e0
I don't know when the rest area closed, but it's currently gated off and signed as being closed to public access. VDOT typically uses the space to store various equipment (construction, snow removal, etc.).
South Carolina is full of decommissioned rest areas. The ones that have actual buildings with restrooms and vending machines survived for the most part. However, the ones that merely consist of an area for parking were closed down. The problem was that sometimes prostitution and other crimes would happen in these rest areas because they were often secluded. When you pull over into one of these rest areas, the rest area is separated from the interstate mainline by a hill or trees or something. So that made it easy to engage in illegal activities.
I don't know the specific mile markers offhand, but I know there's a closed down rest area on I-20 around MM 45 and on I-95 somewhere between Florence and the NC state line. There are also now a few rest areas without toilets that are only for "commercial vehicles." They even have signs that say "no cars allowed."
Speaking of South Carolina, one is located northbound I-85 just before Exit 90. It was shut down a few years ago, google streetview has pictures in 2008. Not sure the reason why it was closed beyond crappy on/off ramps; it had full facilities.
Quote from: Buck87 on January 15, 2014, 10:53:34 AM
I also remember another one on US 23 near the Ross/Pike line. It was distinctive in that the parking lot and restroom building were on either side of a creek, with a little bridge connecting them. As a little kid I always "had to pee" when we approached that one, because I liked walking across that bridge. I'm having trouble pin pointing it's exact location on google maps, but I know it closed in the mid 90's when a new modern rest area was built in Scioto County.
I think it was here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Piketon,+OH/@39.1774523,-82.9739218,251m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x8846e37fcecf804b:0x1cb5f0695cdbd6bb (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Piketon,+OH/@39.1774523,-82.9739218,251m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x8846e37fcecf804b:0x1cb5f0695cdbd6bb)
Anybody know anything about the abandoned rest area on US-33 between Canal Winchester, OH and Lancaster? I can't find any trace of it. My folks used to point out to me where it was but that was too long ago.
Quote from: GCrites80s on December 03, 2014, 08:10:13 PM
Anybody know anything about the abandoned rest area on US-33 between Canal Winchester, OH and Lancaster? I can't find any trace of it. My folks used to point out to me where it was but that was too long ago.
This is the first I've ever heard of that. Would be nice to have one there, though I suppose with the Logan rest area existing, another one between there and Columbus is quite unlikely.
Diggin' through my old maps and they show it from '53 to '77. My next map is '85 and doesn't have it. Looks like it was on the north side of the road, just west of Pickerington Rd.
Quote from: getemngo on March 19, 2014, 01:12:53 PM
In Michigan, the last new rest area appears to be on M-28 just west of Seney, opened in 1999. US 2 has a rest area of the same vintage near Garden Corners. No freeway segment built in 2000 or later has any rest areas, but they're all relatively short.
A new rest area/welcome center is under construction on westbound I-94/I-69 west of Port Huron; it's expected to open sometime in 2015. It will replace an undersized and obsolete rest area/welcome center that was closed several years ago when the Water Street interchange, to which it was adjacent, was reconfigured.
Quote from: sbeaver44 on December 03, 2014, 01:25:24 PM
Resurrecting:
I seem to recall a primitive no services rest stop on US 15 northbound south of Dillsburg. Historical Aerials and Google Maps are pointing me to believe it was between Cabin Hollow Road and Glenwood Road. (I had thought it was closer to Scotch Pine Rd) Street View shows the beginning of a pull off road, with several "No Parking" signs to boot. 40.08046 N/77.05044 W are the coordinates.
I think you have the location right. The official 1960 map does not list this no services rest area, but the 1970 edition does, and it's shown as late as 1989, as far as I can see.
Quote from: PennDOT OTM 1989(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7523/15943011665_b23de9a607_o.png)
The map seems to suggest that it was even further north–roughly in line with where PA 74 and PA 194 intersect, but looking at the satellite images and street view, I can't imagine that the location you've identified isn't it. Here's a side-by-side showing an aerial from 1971 and a current image from Google.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7519/15757267617_d97b4386ec_o.png)
So it appears to have been constructed at some point in the '60s and removed in the '90s. These dates also coincide with two other no services rest areas along US 15–one on the northbound side north of New Buffalo (https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.490092,-76.952679&spn=0.001255,0.002744&t=h&z=19) and another on the southbound side near the Union/Snyder county line (https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.89592,-76.846514&spn=0.001247,0.002744&t=h&z=19), south of Winfield. In both of those cases, though, the pavement was left in place and the areas simply blocked off.
Closing rest areas seems to be a growing trend. Recent trips on I-44 across Missouri and I-20 across Louisiana found rest areas every 70 miles or so - previous trips found them every 35. In Louisiana they tore them out completely and in Missouri some have been removed and others converted to truck parking only.
When the interstates were first built, there were not many amenities at many interchanges. To help travelers, rest areas were built somewhat close--usually 30-45 miles apart. At interchanges, there may have been gas stations and an occasional restaurant, but nothing like there is today. Many of the gas stations are now convenience stores and more restaurant chains have developed since the early 1980's, enough of both that there may be at least one at nearly every interchange. Rest areas became less used so many states decided to shut some down to save costs and to rid the outdated 1960's-built ones, many of which did not have adequate plumbing. Because of all this, many rest areas are located anywhere from 60-120 miles apart nowadays. They just are not needed as much now.
I admit, I would rather get off an interchange and get snacks, drinks, or food from a store than a vending machine. However, if I need to use the restroom or just stretch my legs, it is good to know that there is a rest area I can do that in.
^ I figure since rest areas are subsidized I might as well overconsume them -- taking small pisses, grabbing a third copy of a map and filling up a cup from the drinking fountain.
Rest areas are still the best place for a tired driver to take a nap. They are rest areas, after all.
Quote from: vtk on December 04, 2014, 11:07:14 AM
Rest areas are still the best place for a tired driver to take a nap. They are rest areas, after all.
I get what you're saying, but someplace well-lit and well-traveled is the best place for a nap. Sometimes this is a rest area, sometimes it isn't. The advantage a rest area has is that because it's public, you are presumably not going to get kicked out for napping there.
Quote from: NE2 on March 03, 2014, 01:24:03 AM
Quote from: RG407 on March 03, 2014, 12:25:51 AM
As I was perusing this thread I was thinking how Florida hardly ever closes a rest area, but instead have rebuilt and expanded the original 60's-era rest areas on I-75 and I-95. This pair in Port Orange is the exception.
FDOT closed a pair on I-4 at mile 70 once sprawl had reached that far; retention ponds now sit there.
Here is an aerial shot of one that once stood on I-75 northbound just south of the Suwannee River north of Exit #439:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jasper,+FL+32052/@30.337111,-82.8251597,826m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x88eee111609ff351:0x3ee631a25357e654
You can still see the footprint fairly easily. I don't know exactly when it was abandoned. I know that it was still standing in 1988. It was pretty cool since the pavement looped back into the adjacent woods. It was possible to park fairly far away from the highway which made for much more pleasant snoozing.
Its southbound companion, I believe was a mile or so north on the other side of the river. SE 134th Ave makes a jog and I believe that this is where the SB RA once stood.
I believe that it was removed when the highway was 6-laned in the mid-1990's. It was not replaced and the next NB rest area is the Georgia Welcome Center some 35 miles farther north. My guess is that it was eliminated (no pun intended) for environmental reasons due to its close proximity to the river.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on December 04, 2014, 11:55:13 AM
Quote from: vtk on December 04, 2014, 11:07:14 AM
Rest areas are still the best place for a tired driver to take a nap. They are rest areas, after all.
I get what you're saying, but someplace well-lit and well-traveled is the best place for a nap. Sometimes this is a rest area, sometimes it isn't. The advantage a rest area has is that because it's public, you are presumably not going to get kicked out for napping there.
You do have to be aware of your surroundings. Being armed doesn't hurt. This story created quite a stir in 1993:
http://flaglerlive.com/59037/rest-stop-murder/
Quote from: Fred Defender on December 04, 2014, 12:04:21 PM
Being armed doesn't hurt.
Unless you're black, in which case you're liable to get shot by the popo.
Quote from: Fred Defender on December 04, 2014, 12:04:21 PM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on December 04, 2014, 11:55:13 AM
Quote from: vtk on December 04, 2014, 11:07:14 AM
Rest areas are still the best place for a tired driver to take a nap. They are rest areas, after all.
I get what you're saying, but someplace well-lit and well-traveled is the best place for a nap. Sometimes this is a rest area, sometimes it isn't. The advantage a rest area has is that because it's public, you are presumably not going to get kicked out for napping there.
You do have to be aware of your surroundings. Being armed doesn't hurt. This story created quite a stir in 1993:
http://flaglerlive.com/59037/rest-stop-murder/
I've been to that rest area, one month before that incident. It didn't meet my definition of well-lit or well-trafficked enough for a middle-of-the-night nap. At that hour I would find a truck stop, or at the very least, a 24-hour Wal-Mart lot. Either is far less complicated a solution than being armed.
Quote from: NE2 on December 04, 2014, 12:10:26 PM
Quote from: Fred Defender on December 04, 2014, 12:04:21 PM
Being armed doesn't hurt.
Unless you're black, in which case you're liable to get shot by the popo.
Throw them a box of doughnuts and you'll be fine, regardless of your race.
Quote from: Fred Defender on December 04, 2014, 12:23:40 PM
Quote from: NE2 on December 04, 2014, 12:10:26 PM
Quote from: Fred Defender on December 04, 2014, 12:04:21 PM
Being armed doesn't hurt.
Unless you're black, in which case you're liable to get shot by the popo.
Throw them a box of doughnuts and you'll be fine, regardless of your race.
Touche.
Here's another RA oddity on I-75 in Florida:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Venice,+FL/@27.111748,-82.3467127,855m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x88c34e48300b2dfb:0x52ac882236d6b362
I grew up in Venice and we used to ride our motorcycles on the unopened interstate back in 1980/81 between the time it was paved and its opening to traffic. I haven't even been to Venice since my dad passed away five years ago. They closed this rest area not too long after the highway opened because, supposedly, it was a gay hangout. All I know is that, before they closed it, it was an awesome place to ride a road bike. It was like a roadrace course.
Maybe someone who lives down that way can tell me: Did they reopen it? It looks pretty much undisturbed from the aerial shot. Not grown over as one would expect of an abandoned RA. I don't believe that they ever constructed restrooms at this one. As with my earlier post about the RA in North Florida, this one is very close to a river (Myakka).
This was one of several RA's (the other was in Punta Gorda) that was constructed at an exit and both NB and SB traffic shared one facility.
Edit: Guess I could have zoomed in. Not opened, apparently. FDOT storage site, perhaps? Looks like some of the asphalt has been taken up. So much for my roadrace course! Boo hoo.
Quote from: briantroutman on December 04, 2014, 12:48:26 AM
So it appears to have been constructed at some point in the '60s and removed in the '90s. These dates also coincide with two other no services rest areas along US 15–one on the northbound side north of New Buffalo (https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.490092,-76.952679&spn=0.001255,0.002744&t=h&z=19) and another on the southbound side near the Union/Snyder county line (https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.89592,-76.846514&spn=0.001247,0.002744&t=h&z=19), south of Winfield. In both of those cases, though, the pavement was left in place and the areas simply blocked off.
Thank you, I knew I wasn't crazy! I was trying to find evidence of another rest area on 15 between Shamokin Dam and Lewisburg, and that is the one! I thought at first I was confusing it with the Picnic Area (not the Scenic Overlook) on 15 between PA 54 and South Williamsport. (I have always really liked the Scenic Overlook - beautiful view)
Quote from: Pete from Boston on December 04, 2014, 11:55:13 AM
Quote from: vtk on December 04, 2014, 11:07:14 AM
Rest areas are still the best place for a tired driver to take a nap. They are rest areas, after all.
I get what you're saying, but someplace well-lit and well-traveled is the best place for a nap. Sometimes this is a rest area, sometimes it isn't. The advantage a rest area has is that because it's public, you are presumably not going to get kicked out for napping there.
I value that advantage highly. You seem to worry more about crime than I do, imagining a tired driver needing a nap sometime after midnight. But drivers can be tired at any time of day or night.
Quote from: Fred Defender on December 04, 2014, 12:37:01 PM
....
This was one of several RA's (the other was in Punta Gorda) that was constructed at an exit and both NB and SB traffic shared one facility.
....
I believe there's another such near Fort Myers off Daniels Parkway just east of I-75. I've never stopped there because our relatives live off Briarcliff Road and so we push on to their house when we're in that area.
Quote from: mhh on December 03, 2014, 11:28:12 PM
Quote from: getemngo on March 19, 2014, 01:12:53 PM
In Michigan, the last new rest area appears to be on M-28 just west of Seney, opened in 1999. US 2 has a rest area of the same vintage near Garden Corners. No freeway segment built in 2000 or later has any rest areas, but they're all relatively short.
A new rest area/welcome center is under construction on westbound I-94/I-69 west of Port Huron; it's expected to open sometime in 2015. It will replace an undersized and obsolete rest area/welcome center that was closed several years ago when the Water Street interchange, to which it was adjacent, was reconfigured.
I suspect that this new rest area will also result in the closing of the one near Richmond. The EB rest area there was rebuilt a few years ago, but the WB one was not.
I remember there used to be a rest stop in the early 80s on I-15 between Primm (called State Line back then) and Jean, Nevada, at milepost 5. You can see the outline of it on Google maps
https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=35.67696,-115.376658&spn=0.014764,0.018539&t=h&z=16
I think they took it out when the Nevada Welcome Center was put in at exit 12 near the now demolished Nevada Landing Casino. The Welcome Center has since been moved to Primm.
There was one on I 40 in Arkansas @ mm 109.
Quote from: Fred Defender on December 04, 2014, 12:04:21 PM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on December 04, 2014, 11:55:13 AM
Quote from: vtk on December 04, 2014, 11:07:14 AM
Rest areas are still the best place for a tired driver to take a nap. They are rest areas, after all.
I get what you're saying, but someplace well-lit and well-traveled is the best place for a nap. Sometimes this is a rest area, sometimes it isn't. The advantage a rest area has is that because it's public, you are presumably not going to get kicked out for napping there.
You do have to be aware of your surroundings. Being armed doesn't hurt. This story created quite a stir in 1993:
http://flaglerlive.com/59037/rest-stop-murder/
Then again, open up any newspaper or website to find the murders and crime that occur at frequently visited places in the middle of the day.
Quote from: GCrites80s on December 03, 2014, 10:50:06 PM
Diggin' through my old maps and they show it from '53 to '77. My next map is '85 and doesn't have it. Looks like it was on the north side of the road, just west of Pickerington Rd.
Per topo maps, it was. Was in this location (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.8411383,-82.7694541,291m/data=!3m1!1e3). You can sort of tell where it was on old aerial imagery, but it was cleared between 2006 and what is currently on Google Maps, so no evidence remains.
USGS 1994 aerial:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fvidthekid.info%2Fimghost%2F33-restarea-cw.jpg&hash=4e730a989a30301da8c68dda85c47c4d7035db42)
Wow, that's smaller than I thought it should be. I wouldn't have spotted it unless I knew exactly where to look. (I tried to find it on historical USGS topos the other day but Acrobat was being grumpy.)
Yes it was a small stand of trees. It was definitely small enough that it didn't have ramps going to it. Most likely it was always primitive and those old ones didn't need a large footprint.
You can still see evidence of it on the 2006 historic aerial.
This one on the I-10 in Fontana, CA. It's been there for years and I'm not sure how long, but I think it's from the US70 and US99 days.
http://goo.gl/maps/8izmc
The parking areas (never full rest areas) on US 78 in Olive Branch, Miss. around milepost 5 have been closed for a few years now. Except for the Mississippi welcome center westbound, there's not a single rest area on all of what will be I-22, even though a couple in each direction would certainly be warranted (in addition to an Alabama welcome center and probably a Mississippi one eastbound too around Byhalia) even at today's highway speeds.
I pass by these a lot, at the very end of the NJ Turnpike Hudson Co. Extension (I-78) in Jersey City, now used for contractor equipment/storage:
https://www.google.com/maps?ll=40.6976,-74.075789&spn=0.003911,0.006539&t=h&z=18 (https://www.google.com/maps?ll=40.6976,-74.075789&spn=0.003911,0.006539&t=h&z=18)
The Garden State Parkway has a number of former rest areas, the most infamous of which is the rest area near Forked River where Robert Marshall had his wife bumped off: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_O._Marshall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_O._Marshall). I believe it was here: https://www.google.com/maps?ll=39.806607,-74.227688&spn=0.005605,0.013078&t=h&z=17 (https://www.google.com/maps?ll=39.806607,-74.227688&spn=0.005605,0.013078&t=h&z=17). Before the widening a few years ago it was more obvious, and I believe technically open then even if its use was discouraged through no exit striping / lack of good signage if I recall correctly (and I would assume also by a state trooper who would probably roll in 10 seconds after you to find out what you're up to). It's hard to pick it out now, and looks like your standard median break / white-SUV-with-lightbar parking. To the north, on the NB side just south of NJ 70 (exit 88/89B), there was another small rest area on the right that one could identify through some concrete disappearing and reappearing from the woods, before it was obliterated with the widening project.
Quote from: NE2 on March 03, 2014, 01:24:03 AM
Quote from: RG407 on March 03, 2014, 12:25:51 AM
As I was perusing this thread I was thinking how Florida hardly ever closes a rest area, but instead have rebuilt and expanded the original 60's-era rest areas on I-75 and I-95. This pair in Port Orange is the exception.
FDOT closed a pair on I-4 at mile 70 once sprawl had reached that far; retention ponds now sit there.
I am surprised that the Longwood rest areas are still open ( just east(north) of exit 94. They are right in the middle of suburbia. Services at exits 92,94&98. There is always tons if trucks there when I go to work in the morning, that's probably why. But rest areas are known as cruising spots for men, all the more reason people want them closed.
On I-95 in St Johns County in FL. There are still 2 rest areas within less than 30 miles. The one father north is now in Jacksonville's fast growing suburban areas. Very close to an expanded exit for CR210 and there are 2 big truck stops on the exit. I see the days numbered for the rest area
Quote from: cl94 on December 07, 2014, 11:08:52 PM
Quote from: GCrites80s on December 03, 2014, 10:50:06 PM
Diggin' through my old maps and they show it from '53 to '77. My next map is '85 and doesn't have it. Looks like it was on the north side of the road, just west of Pickerington Rd.
Per topo maps, it was. Was in this location (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.8411383,-82.7694541,291m/data=!3m1!1e3). You can sort of tell where it was on old aerial imagery, but it was cleared between 2006 and what is currently on Google Maps, so no evidence remains.
Drove past here this morning and found out the land is for sale. Somebody could buy it and re-create a 1960s Ohio primitive rest area on their own. I bet you could do it for less than $20,000 if you didn't pave it.
How about this one, on I-70 WB in Crystal Spring, PA, about 6 miles south of Breezewood. It seems to be intact, but it's gated and has no signs or striping on the highway. And if you look on GSV, are those outhouses to the right?
https://goo.gl/maps/SA2NL (https://goo.gl/maps/SA2NL)
I wonder if that, and the still-open area on the EB side about a mile north, were once signed as Scenic Views, until the trees grew enough to block the view.
Quote from: lepidopteran on December 11, 2014, 09:38:37 PM
How about this one, on I-70 WB in Crystal Spring, PA, about 6 miles south of Breezewood. It seems to be intact, but it's gated and has no signs or striping on the highway. And if you look on GSV, are those outhouses to the right?
https://goo.gl/maps/SA2NL (https://goo.gl/maps/SA2NL)
I wonder if that, and the still-open area on the EB side about a mile north, were once signed as Scenic Views, until the trees grew enough to block the view.
The last PA map I have that shows this rest area is 1980; it's absent from the 1989 map.
Looks nearly identical to this rest area (https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.067818,-78.465482&spn=0.009569,0.010879&t=h&z=17) (also closed) on I-80 northwest of Clearfield. I recall seeing mobile truck weighing and inspection operations taking place at this one, and I wouldn't be surprised if PennDOT had maintained the pavement at Crystal Spring for the same reason.
I doubt the WB Crystal Spring rest area was ever a Scenic View, though. Even without the trees, its location doesn't appear to allow much of a view. And I can't think of anywhere in PA where a Scenic Overlook (with no services) is signed as an exit from an Interstate–can anyone else? The closest I can recall is the new welcome center on US 15 that has "SCENIC OVERLOOK" as an auxiliary plate in addition to "WELCOME CENTER" , but that's a full-fledged rest area.
Slate.COM: America's Quirky Rest Stops Are Vanishing (http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/12/12/ryann_ford_photographs_america_s_rest_stops_in_her_series_the_last_stop.html)
QuoteBefore national chains like McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts largely supplanted them as destinations for relaxation and amusement, publicly funded rest stops were an integral part of driving for interstate travelers.
QuoteRyann Ford started paying attention to rest areas while on assignment for Texas Monthly. After doing some research online, she learned how rest stops developed alongside the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s, but were being closed or demolished as the recession shrunk state budgets.
Quote from: MarkF on December 06, 2014, 01:48:23 AM
I remember there used to be a rest stop in the early 80s on I-15 between Primm (called State Line back then) and Jean, Nevada, at milepost 5. You can see the outline of it on Google maps
https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=35.67696,-115.376658&spn=0.014764,0.018539&t=h&z=16
I think they took it out when the Nevada Welcome Center was put in at exit 12 near the now demolished Nevada Landing Casino. The Welcome Center has since been moved to Primm.
I did not know this, but you are right. NDOT historic maps show a rest stop existing at that location in the US 91/US 466 days, starting with the 1959 state highway map and continuing through the 1991-1992 edition. On the 1993-1994 map, the rest stop is removed and the Welcome Center station at Jean is included.
Stumbled upon this one today... It's on OH 11 north of Columbiana. The rumor is that it was closed for construction in 2008 and never re-opened. The aerial view shows all of the ramps in place; going to street view shows that the on-ramps no longer exist.
http://goo.gl/maps/P0JZc
Forgive me if this one has already been posted. I'm way too lazy to check 138 posts. I'm not quite sure if it qualifies as abandoned. The state has clearly tried to close this one on US 30, just west of Ft. Wayne, by blocking it off with barrels at the entrance and exit on both sides. The barrels have been pushed aside and folks are clearly using the areas.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.1255694,-85.2767655,425m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en (https://www.google.com/maps/@41.1255694,-85.2767655,425m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)
I passed by last Saturday and didn't notice any vehicles on the north side then, although trees pretty effectively block the view. I didn't check the south side.
Wait do you mean drivers are just parking there? Or more?
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 15, 2015, 11:23:42 PM
Wait do you mean drivers are just parking there? Or more?
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I-4 used to have one near Exit 33, until the current one between Exits 44 and 48 was opened. The widening of I-4 in the late 90's covered up the last remains of it.
In New Jersey on the Garden State Parkway, the Bus Inspection near Brick Township was a rest area at one time. Also the maintenance area near where the Clark Grisswold Prank for the Exit 135 guide, was once the Madison Hill Rest Area and was closed for the "more" that was suggested.
Quote from: NE2 on January 15, 2015, 11:58:32 PM
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 15, 2015, 11:23:42 PM
Wait do you mean drivers are just parking there? Or more?
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
It's hard to tell what drivers might be doing from the overhead shot. What goes on behind closed doors is none of my business. Like I said, I didn't spot any activity on Saturday.
But it looks like the buildings are gone so no one is pooing in an unmaintained restroom.
Quote from: robbones on December 07, 2014, 01:17:14 PM
There was one on I 40 in Arkansas @ mm 109.
Someone was murdered there, so AHTD closed them (both directions) .
Quote from: US71 on January 16, 2015, 11:38:19 PM
Quote from: robbones on December 07, 2014, 01:17:14 PM
There was one on I 40 in Arkansas @ mm 109.
Someone was murdered there, so AHTD closed them (both directions) .
Of course, let's close and remove anywhere anyone was killed. I hate that philosophy. When we're done, we'll have nowhere left.
While looking around for another "Where's Steve At?" adventure, I stumbled on this:
https://www.google.com/maps?ll=35.679313,-95.303457&spn=0.011783,0.026157&t=h&z=16 (https://www.google.com/maps?ll=35.679313,-95.303457&spn=0.011783,0.026157&t=h&z=16)
Looks like a rest area that never was. Anyone know the story?
Quote from: Roadrunner75 on January 18, 2015, 04:16:13 PM
While looking around for another "Where's Steve At?" adventure, I stumbled on this:
https://www.google.com/maps?ll=35.679313,-95.303457&spn=0.011783,0.026157&t=h&z=16 (https://www.google.com/maps?ll=35.679313,-95.303457&spn=0.011783,0.026157&t=h&z=16)
Looks like a rest area that never was. Anyone know the story?
The 1978 topo labels it as a rest area.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fapps.historicaerials.com%2Fapi%2Flayers%2FT1978%2F16%2F15417%2F25807%3FETag%3D0&hash=add70da8cd6883c828a21ecd4335c6a9c8878174)
I'm surprised more states don't use the single median rest areas to save money.
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 18, 2015, 09:43:05 PM
I'm surprised more states don't use the single median rest areas to save money.
Left exits are why they don't. Unsafe to have slow traffic entering on the left and it goes against driver expectation. There's a bit of art and psychology involved in road design.
Quote from: cl94 on January 18, 2015, 10:00:08 PM
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 18, 2015, 09:43:05 PM
I'm surprised more states don't use the single median rest areas to save money.
Left exits are why they don't. Unsafe to have slow traffic entering on the left and it goes against driver expectation. There's a bit of art and psychology involved in road design.
Fair enough answer. But why not use right exits and entrances from/to both directions and a connector road on either side of the rest area? One rest area can be utilized for both directions and left exits and entrances don't need to be used.
Quote from: signalman on January 19, 2015, 12:10:32 PM
Quote from: cl94 on January 18, 2015, 10:00:08 PM
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 18, 2015, 09:43:05 PM
I'm surprised more states don't use the single median rest areas to save money.
Left exits are why they don't. Unsafe to have slow traffic entering on the left and it goes against driver expectation. There's a bit of art and psychology involved in road design.
Fair enough answer. But why not use right exits and entrances from/to both directions and a connector road on either side of the rest area? One rest area can be utilized for both directions and left exits and entrances don't need to be used.
Ground conditions may make the costs of two bridges exceed the cost of building two smaller rest areas. A bridge is a heck of a lot more expensive to build and maintain than a small building.
I live in Ohio where left exits are still A-OK.
Quote from: signalman on January 19, 2015, 12:10:32 PM
Quote from: cl94 on January 18, 2015, 10:00:08 PM
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 18, 2015, 09:43:05 PM
I'm surprised more states don't use the single median rest areas to save money.
Left exits are why they don't. Unsafe to have slow traffic entering on the left and it goes against driver expectation. There's a bit of art and psychology involved in road design.
Fair enough answer. But why not use right exits and entrances from/to both directions and a connector road on either side of the rest area? One rest area can be utilized for both directions and left exits and entrances don't need to be used.
There are a few. But a parking lot and bathrooms are pretty cheap to construct, less than an overpass. Where I've seen a connector road it's usually because land is very restricted on one side of the road.
Quote from: cl94 on January 19, 2015, 12:14:32 PM
Ground conditions may make the costs of two bridges exceed the cost of building two smaller rest areas. A bridge is a heck of a lot more expensive to build and maintain than a small building.
Good point. I didn't consider the two bridges and their maintenance when I gave a quick witted solution.
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 18, 2015, 09:43:05 PM
I'm surprised more states don't use the single median rest areas to save money.
MoDOT has one on I-44.
Quote from: cl94 on January 18, 2015, 10:00:08 PM
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 18, 2015, 09:43:05 PM
I'm surprised more states don't use the single median rest areas to save money.
Left exits are why they don't. Unsafe to have slow traffic entering on the left and it goes against driver expectation. There's a bit of art and psychology involved in road design.
That one is funny as in Delaware where I-95 has its one and only rest area in the whole entire state, there was a sign there warning all motorists in the left lanes to where the left side merges in, to keep right.
It emphasizes that it is a "High Speed Merge" and for traffic to "Keep Right."
I actually thought that was an error and should warn the ramp traffic to Keep Left.
Quote from: cl94 on January 18, 2015, 10:00:08 PM
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 18, 2015, 09:43:05 PM
I'm surprised more states don't use the single median rest areas to save money.
Left exits are why they don't. Unsafe to have slow traffic entering on the left and it goes against driver expectation. There's a bit of art and psychology involved in road design.
Beside left exit/entrance, it requires a lot of land as the opposite carriageways need to gradually widen out. A rest area on the right side only needs the amount of land that the area itself occupies, not an additional quarter mile at each end of it.
Quote from: GaryV on January 19, 2015, 07:04:12 PM
Quote from: cl94 on January 18, 2015, 10:00:08 PM
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 18, 2015, 09:43:05 PM
I'm surprised more states don't use the single median rest areas to save money.
Left exits are why they don't. Unsafe to have slow traffic entering on the left and it goes against driver expectation. There's a bit of art and psychology involved in road design.
Beside left exit/entrance, it requires a lot of land as the opposite carriageways need to gradually widen out. A rest area on the right side only needs the amount of land that the area itself occupies, not an additional quarter mile at each end of it.
1/4 mile is pushing it if you want to provide an exit ramp that allows for deceleration from the left lane design speed and adequate geometry within the rest area
Quote from: renegade on March 02, 2014, 09:51:19 PM
Quote from: busman_49 on March 02, 2014, 05:47:07 PM
I read about one in Cincinnati (I think on cincinnatitransit.net) that used to be on I-275 near the Ward's Corner Rd. exit. I think I found where it used to be:
http://goo.gl/maps/8iOXR
Nope. It's further south, below Milford Parkway.
For those still following along at home, here's the area in question:
http://goo.gl/maps/eGJEK
(...and as an added bonus, pan further north & there's a ghost ramp at the 275/Milford Pkwy interchange!)
I came across another abandoned rest stop... And this one is quite unusual. If you are in Fon Du Lac, Wisconsin and go north on US 41 for about 3 miles, you will come across a closed rest area thats been closed since the 90's. but there's something a little more nerving.. When you reach this rest area going south, you will find a sign that says, "next rest area 21 miles", but wait.. Hasn't that rest stop been gone for 20 years? It would be weird when a person is driving down the highway to get a random, out-of-the-blue, "next rest stop 21 miles sign". These things don't just happen. Someone forgot to take down the sign.
^^ Those were waysides rather than rest areas. Main difference is they had pit toilets rather than indoor plumbing.
Quote from: rawmustard on March 24, 2014, 08:21:17 PM
Quote from: getemngo on March 19, 2014, 01:12:53 PM
MDOT just got rid of (http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-9620-314535--,00.html) the rest area on southbound US 127 near Higgins Lake in December, because not enough people used it to justify remodeling. I'll try to get photos of whatever's left in April.
This topic got me wondering, when did the number of rest areas peak in each state? When did the last new rest area (that didn't replace an existing area) open in each state?
In Michigan, the last new rest area appears to be on M-28 just west of Seney, opened in 1999. US 2 has a rest area of the same vintage near Garden Corners. No freeway segment built in 2000 or later has any rest areas, but they're all relatively short.
I have to think DeWitt is newer, since I don't think it was constructed until some years after the segment of US 127 was opened to traffic. Woodbury might also have opened in the 2000s.
Two rest areas were taken out for M-6: US-131 NB at MM 77 and I-96 WB at MM 45. Also, one on I-96 WB at MM 140 was taken out for a new interchange. There's a long-abandoned one on US-23 NB at MM 32 and another long-abandoned one on I-196 SB at MM 16. Speaking of new ones, I think the Chelsea rest area on I-94 EB might be newer than DeWitt and Woodbury.
There is abandoned rest area along US 219 near Keysers Ridge, MD. The large parking lot with a scenic view remains. There is a modern building there with flush restrooms but it's been fenced off since about 2009. Google Maps Street View: http://goo.gl/maps/Oi8jq
There are also the remains of an old rest area along Scenic US 40 atop Sideling Hill west of Hancock, MD. The facilities are still there but they're blocked off and No Trespassing signs are poste.d GMSV: http://goo.gl/maps/N96FM
No one has mentioned this one:
https://goo.gl/maps/Hi4mf
This one closed in September 2006.
From behind the old rest area:
https://goo.gl/maps/Mk6H5
Quote from: Bitmapped on April 16, 2015, 10:36:58 PM
There are also the remains of an old rest area along Scenic US 40 atop Sideling Hill west of Hancock, MD. The facilities are still there but they're blocked off and No Trespassing signs are poste.d GMSV: http://goo.gl/maps/N96FM
Oh man that's a good one. I think that one is well-documented in book form from a National Road book I checked out from the library.
Quote from: SignGeek101 on April 16, 2015, 10:49:40 PM
No one has mentioned this one:
https://goo.gl/maps/Hi4mf
This one closed in September 2006.
Rotate the view on this one to see the meanest semi you've seen in a while behind the Google car.
Not sure if this was a rest stop or a weigh station, but here's something in Vancouver, WA. I-5 NB off the Fourth Plain off-ramp.
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.634885,-122.662412,3a,70.5y,20.33h,90.22t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1scDUg3LpF12pmbbp4wHBYRA!2e0
I haven't driven this stretch of I-4 in a while, but it looks like this former "No Facilities" rest stop has been converted into a staging area for construction equipment:
I-4 (https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=29.115317,-81.138325&spn=0.003252,0.005681&t=h&z=18)
Can anyone confirm that?
I think this was probably a weigh station, rather than a rest area; but I can find no information about it:
US17 (https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=32.161082,-81.03447&spn=0.401085,0.727158&cbll=32.195719,-81.075772&layer=c&panoid=nCLJiXu3ZlfDG0uCzL44NQ&cbp=12,66.44,,0,2.83&t=h&z=11)
As this GSV shows, the fuzz like to use it for a pull-over spot nowadays.
Quote from: GCrites80s on April 16, 2015, 11:22:08 PM
Rotate the view on this one to see the meanest semi you've seen in a while behind the Google car.
Good one!
I clicked ahead up the road, and the truck changes lanes. Check out the pissed-off look from the trucker as he passes: AngryTrucker (https://maps.google.ca/maps?ll=43.572432,-79.719543&spn=0.343259,0.727158&cbll=43.602307,-79.760802&layer=c&panoid=za6CVlSe6BDyXzkirDJ-Hg&cbp=12,193.26,,3,3.53&t=m&z=11)
Awesome. A bad dude in a bad truck.
Quote from: tcorlandoinsavannah on April 17, 2015, 10:28:49 PM
I haven't driven this stretch of I-4 in a while, but it looks like this former "No Facilities" rest stop has been converted into a staging area for construction equipment:
I-4 (https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=29.115317,-81.138325&spn=0.003252,0.005681&t=h&z=18)
Can anyone confirm that?
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.
Quote from: jwolfer on December 10, 2014, 01:20:15 AM
I am surprised that the Longwood rest areas are still open ( just east(north) of exit 94. They are right in the middle of suburbia. Services at exits 92,94&98. There is always tons if trucks there when I go to work in the morning, that's probably why. But rest areas are known as cruising spots for men, all the more reason people want them closed.
The Longwood rest areas aren't going anywhere. In fact, they are going to be expanded as part of the I-4 Ultimate project. FDOT will also build a brand-new traffic management center at the eastbound rest area. Residents living behind the rest area are not at all happy.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/traffic/I-4-makeover/os-i4-makeover-rest-stop-construction-20150410-story.html (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/traffic/I-4-makeover/os-i4-makeover-rest-stop-construction-20150410-story.html)
Quote from: cl94 on January 18, 2015, 10:00:08 PM
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 18, 2015, 09:43:05 PM
I'm surprised more states don't use the single median rest areas to save money.
Left exits are why they don't. Unsafe to have slow traffic entering on the left and it goes against driver expectation. There's a bit of art and psychology involved in road design.
Don't know if it's still open but on i85 in North Carolina there was a rest area near Greensboro where the carriageways switch sides so the rest are is in the middle with right exits.
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.
The Thruway's Sloatsburg and Ramapo pair of service areas are similar, just north of Exit 15.
Quote from: xcellntbuy on April 19, 2015, 12:37:48 PM
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
Quote from: RG407 on April 18, 2015, 11:06:46 PM
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.
Here's a recently closed one up in Tennessee:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0246908,-85.5585797,418m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en
Quote from: freebrickproductions on November 22, 2015, 11:00:23 AM
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.
Quote from: US71 on January 19, 2015, 05:20:04 PM
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 18, 2015, 09:43:05 PM
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.
Quote from: freebrickproductions on November 22, 2015, 11:00:23 AM
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.
Quote from: freebrickproductions on November 22, 2015, 11:00:23 AM
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.
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on November 22, 2015, 10:58:32 PM
Quote from: freebrickproductions on November 22, 2015, 11:00:23 AM
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.
Quote from: freebrickproductions on November 22, 2015, 11:53:44 PM
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on November 22, 2015, 10:58:32 PM
Quote from: freebrickproductions on November 22, 2015, 11:00:23 AM
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.
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.
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.
Quote from: SteveG1988 on November 23, 2015, 09:54:40 AM
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.)
Quote from: empirestate on April 19, 2015, 02:37:48 PM
Quote from: xcellntbuy on April 19, 2015, 12:37:48 PM
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...
Quote from: lepidopteran on November 24, 2015, 06:00:11 PM
Quote from: empirestate on April 19, 2015, 02:37:48 PM
Quote from: xcellntbuy on April 19, 2015, 12:37:48 PM
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. :D
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.
Quote from: Rothman on November 24, 2015, 06:28:08 PM
Quote from: lepidopteran on November 24, 2015, 06:00:11 PM
Quote from: empirestate on April 19, 2015, 02:37:48 PM
Quote from: xcellntbuy on April 19, 2015, 12:37:48 PM
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. :D
Quote from: vdeane on November 24, 2015, 09:59:58 PM
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.
Quote from: cl94 on November 24, 2015, 10:41:33 PM
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?
Quote from: empirestate on November 24, 2015, 11:57:47 PM
Quote from: cl94 on November 24, 2015, 10:41:33 PM
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.
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
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.
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.
Temporarily closed.
(May reopen briefly just before the next gubernatorial election.)
Quote from: upstatenyroads on November 28, 2015, 08:17:58 AM
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 (https://www.google.com/maps/@43.2652488,-76.131378,3a,18.7y,233.33h,92.09t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1squMdj5ZsW7ao3VRzcu2WXw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1). However there's a greenout on top of the sign that probably says "REST AREA".
Quote from: SteveG1988 on November 23, 2015, 09:54:40 AM
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.
Welcome to New Jersey. The last time I checked, unless something has changed since then, both I-80 and I-287 made the rest areas there Truck Parking Only!
Quote from: roadman65 on November 30, 2015, 10:41:54 PM
Welcome to New Jersey. The last time I checked, unless something has changed since then, both I-80 and I-287 made the rest areas there Truck Parking Only!
True for 287. There's 3 open to cars both east and westbound on 80 (if one counts the Delaware Water Gap Nat'l Recreation Area; I would, since one could utilize it as a rest stop). Two westbound and one east are marked as a "scenic overlook," but they function as a rest area without facilities. There is a truck parking area at approx. MM 31 WB, although I see cars parked at it regularly. The one EB has been closed for years, and is used for equipment storage.
Quote from: roadman65 on January 16, 2015, 09:33:14 AM
I-4 used to have one near Exit 33, until the current one between Exits 44 and 48 was opened. The widening of I-4 in the late 90's covered up the last remains of it.
This was a rather scenic rest area given that it was close to town. Sat up on a small hill, as I recall. I have a rather funny memory of it:
I stopped there riding my Honda CB750F to Bike Week in Daytona from my home in Sarasota - I believe it was 1982. The stop didn't help much; the rain never let up. Poured rain on me the entire way over.
Quote from: NE2 on March 03, 2014, 01:24:03 AM
Quote from: RG407 on March 03, 2014, 12:25:51 AM
As I was perusing this thread I was thinking how Florida hardly ever closes a rest area, but instead have rebuilt and expanded the original 60's-era rest areas on I-75 and I-95. This pair in Port Orange is the exception.
FDOT closed a pair on I-4 at mile 70 once sprawl had reached that far; retention ponds now sit there.
I just spotted another former pair on I-4, in Lakeland (http://historicaerials.com:?layer=1999&zoom=16&lat=28.109386044504507&lon=-81.9430947303772%20via%20@historicaerials), near Exit 33 (formerly Exit 19). The one for the EB lanes is now a relocated exit, presumably so they'd have less tight curves.
Here's an abandoned rest area on US 31 just north of Decatur, AL:
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.673831,-86.9505692,322m/data=!3m1!1e3
Some more in MI:
NB I-75 near Bridgeport: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.3309004,-83.8566329,1022m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-US (replaced with rest area near Mt. Morris in the 1980s)
EB I-94 near Dexter: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2990597,-83.8643053,1248m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-US (replaced with rest area near Chelsea between 2005 and 2009)
WB I-94 near Ypsilanti: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2256484,-83.6368107,702m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-US (replaced with rest area near Belleville in the 1970s; site taken over by development)
NB US-127 between Harrison and Houghton Lake: https://www.google.com/maps/@44.23219,-84.7997448,791m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-US (recently abandoned; not on MDOT state map)
SB US-127 near Higgins Lake: https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4518424,-84.785888,2661m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-US (mentioned earlier in the thread)
EB I-94 near Coloma: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.1525953,-86.3407478,690m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-US (recently abandoned)
Not abandoned, but SB US-131 near Tustin: https://www.google.com/maps/@44.1233429,-85.4707952,1348m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-US (in use as scenic overlook with rustic facilities; was this ever a full rest area?)
Quote from: jwolfer on April 19, 2015, 11:13:53 AM
Quote from: cl94 on January 18, 2015, 10:00:08 PM
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 18, 2015, 09:43:05 PM
I'm surprised more states don't use the single median rest areas to save money.
Left exits are why they don't. Unsafe to have slow traffic entering on the left and it goes against driver expectation. There's a bit of art and psychology involved in road design.
Don't know if it's still open but on i85 in North Carolina there was a rest area near Greensboro where the carriageways switch sides so the rest are is in the middle with right exits.
Yeah, they are still open. and it is on I-85 between Lexington and Thomasville. :)
Here's one in WI, on I-39/90 just North of Janesville.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.7567144,-89.0035812,448m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en (https://www.google.com/maps/@42.7567144,-89.0035812,448m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)
I've gone through this entire thread, and I don't think I've seen either of these ones listed:
- Oregon: Interstate 205 South @ MP 7, West Linn (https://goo.gl/maps/n3XRDNyTi9m)
Built in the late 1960s/early 1970s, this was a rare instance of a rest area in an urban area, at least out west. Unfortunately, the proximity to civilization also made it a hot spot for drugs and prostitution by the 1990s. West Linn PD made plenty of busts there before it got shut down in 1995, according to this
Oregonian article from 2004 (http://blog.beaverstateroads.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2004-06-23-Oregonian-Working-Like-a-Dog-and-Loving-It.pdf). It was paired with a northbound viewpoint that overlooks Willamette Falls that is still open today, but otherwise offers no services or facilities. Below is a comparison of a satellite view from 1984 and the most recent GMaps image. I still have yet to investigate it.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.beaverstateroads.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F02%2Fi205-rest-area.jpg&hash=fe035b07ed48e58c0ef050279670954dc307dfd4)
- Nevada: Interstate 80 East @ MP 22, Sparks (https://goo.gl/maps/wMvTn6cGZNu)
I don't know too much about the history of this rest area. It was closed down by 1992, as evidenced by the satellite photos below. I wandered around that area around 2012 and took some photos. In addition to the building foundations and some pavement markings, there was also a heavily vandalized old-skool "Freeway Entrance" sign still up on the pole (https://goo.gl/maps/H9emCuKFCUS2). I may be able to find the photos I took, but they're most likely on a disc somewhere in a box.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.beaverstateroads.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F02%2Fi80-rest-area.jpg&hash=5a2bdef3038b8bfd4b86b2a1f65531a1e3c4ccfd)
Quote from: dcharlie on February 27, 2018, 04:16:59 PM
Here's one in WI, on I-39/90 just North of Janesville.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.7567144,-89.0035812,448m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en (https://www.google.com/maps/@42.7567144,-89.0035812,448m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)
The curious thing is why the NB rest area was demolished but the SB rest area remains in place.
In the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, there was a rest area on 401 eastbound between exits 333 and 336 which was closed in 2006 and is now completely vacant (no structures still standing).
On Long Island, there was a rest area on 495 westbound between exits 53 and 51 which was closed in 2016.
Quote from: TML on February 28, 2018, 12:31:37 PM
On Long Island, there was a rest area on 495 westbound between exits 53 and 51 which was closed in 2016.
Technically that was just a parking area/text stop, not a full rest area.
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on February 28, 2018, 02:06:49 AM
Quote from: dcharlie on February 27, 2018, 04:16:59 PM
Here's one in WI, on I-39/90 just North of Janesville.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.7567144,-89.0035812,448m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en (https://www.google.com/maps/@42.7567144,-89.0035812,448m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)
The curious thing is why the NB rest area was demolished but the SB rest area remains in place.
There is the NB welcome center about twenty miles away. That probable made that removed rest area redundant.
There used to be a Utah welcome center off I-15 near St George. It was abandoned when exit 2 was constructed, and was subsequently destroyed by a fire:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=18498.0 (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=18498.0)
Quote from: JasonOfORoads on February 28, 2018, 12:12:42 AM
- Nevada: Interstate 80 East @ MP 22, Sparks (https://goo.gl/maps/wMvTn6cGZNu)
I don't know too much about the history of this rest area. It was closed down by 1992, as evidenced by the satellite photos below. I wandered around that area around 2012 and took some photos. In addition to the building foundations and some pavement markings, there was also a heavily vandalized old-skool "Freeway Entrance" sign still up on the pole (https://goo.gl/maps/H9emCuKFCUS2). I may be able to find the photos I took, but they're most likely on a disc somewhere in a box.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.beaverstateroads.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F02%2Fi80-rest-area.jpg&hash=5a2bdef3038b8bfd4b86b2a1f65531a1e3c4ccfd)
In the street view, it's actually at Mile 21 (exit 21 being actually closer to mile 18 or 19). It appears to be eastbound only–maybe this helps explain why the rest area at Wadsworth (near mile 42) is westbound only...?
I'm actually surprised I never knew about this one. I have not noticed the remains of it before–now that I think about it, I have noticed the guardrail break and pavement that is still present from the entrance ramp, but never thought much about what it might be.
I-95 had a set of basic rest areas (no toilets) at Port St. John between Ranch Road and Fay Boulevard:
https://www.google.com/maps/@28.4746139,-80.8211184,569m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en
These areas were closed down in the early 90s. The northbound area was used to store supplies during the I-95 widening two years ago.
I live less than a quarter mile away.
I've noticed a distinct lack of Illinois in this thread, so here's a few that I guess get in on technicalities.
First, here's this on I-39. it was just a semi parking area when this stretch of I-39 first opened. It was never a full rest area with facilities...
In retrospect, it looks like a closed weigh station, but I could have sworn there was a closed truck parking lot...
https://goo.gl/maps/rq6DDSVpRCU2
Then there's this one.. It seems to close and open randomly. It's closed every time I have gone by it in recent memory. I-55, at Funk's Grove, IL. I notice that on streetview, in the 2011 images it's open, in the 2016, the rest area signs are taken down...
https://goo.gl/maps/oUCozA4GtPR2
A bit of Canada in this thread?
In province of Quebec, on Autoroute 31, southeast of Joliette, there's a pair of abandoned rest areas. On NB, the MTQ turned it into a partial interchange to allow access to an industrial park, but on SB, the remnants are still there.
https://goo.gl/maps/RkTvGruP4bB2 (https://goo.gl/maps/RkTvGruP4bB2)
Quote from: inkyatari on March 09, 2018, 03:55:35 PM
I've noticed a distinct lack of Illinois in this thread, so here's a few that I guess get in on technicalities.
First, here's this on I-39. it was just a semi parking area when this stretch of I-39 first opened. It was never a full rest area with facilities...
In retrospect, it looks like a closed weigh station, but I could have sworn there was a closed truck parking lot...
https://goo.gl/maps/rq6DDSVpRCU2
Then there's this one.. It seems to close and open randomly. It's closed every time I have gone by it in recent memory. I-55, at Funk's Grove, IL. I notice that on streetview, in the 2011 images it's open, in the 2016, the rest area signs are taken down...
https://goo.gl/maps/oUCozA4GtPR2
I am not so sure about that. I was down there in the summer of 2016 on my way to St Louis and the signs said it would be reopening in the fall of that year.
Quote from: dvferyance on May 01, 2018, 12:29:02 PM
Quote from: inkyatari on March 09, 2018, 03:55:35 PM
I've noticed a distinct lack of Illinois in this thread, so here's a few that I guess get in on technicalities.
First, here's this on I-39. it was just a semi parking area when this stretch of I-39 first opened. It was never a full rest area with facilities...
In retrospect, it looks like a closed weigh station, but I could have sworn there was a closed truck parking lot...
https://goo.gl/maps/rq6DDSVpRCU2
Then there's this one.. It seems to close and open randomly. It's closed every time I have gone by it in recent memory. I-55, at Funk's Grove, IL. I notice that on streetview, in the 2011 images it's open, in the 2016, the rest area signs are taken down...
https://goo.gl/maps/oUCozA4GtPR2
I am not so sure about that. I was down there in the summer of 2016 on my way to St Louis and the signs said it would be reopening in the fall of that year.
I go to Springfield every year, and I could have sworn it was still closed last year.
If you're including full service areas, the Topeka service area (https://goo.gl/maps/jEjcZuBGHQP2) on the Kansas Turnpike (just west of where I-470 meets I-70) has sat empty since 2002. It was shut down when a new service area was built about five miles east of here.
Quote from: inkyatari on May 01, 2018, 02:00:13 PM
Quote from: dvferyance on May 01, 2018, 12:29:02 PM
Quote from: inkyatari on March 09, 2018, 03:55:35 PM
I've noticed a distinct lack of Illinois in this thread, so here's a few that I guess get in on technicalities.
First, here's this on I-39. it was just a semi parking area when this stretch of I-39 first opened. It was never a full rest area with facilities...
In retrospect, it looks like a closed weigh station, but I could have sworn there was a closed truck parking lot...
https://goo.gl/maps/rq6DDSVpRCU2
Then there's this one.. It seems to close and open randomly. It's closed every time I have gone by it in recent memory. I-55, at Funk's Grove, IL. I notice that on streetview, in the 2011 images it's open, in the 2016, the rest area signs are taken down...
https://goo.gl/maps/oUCozA4GtPR2
I am not so sure about that. I was down there in the summer of 2016 on my way to St Louis and the signs said it would be reopening in the fall of that year.
I go to Springfield every year, and I could have sworn it was still closed last year.
Funk's Grove is open currently. Not so sure what the heck IDOT had it closed for though.
Here's one on Interstate 24 near Eddyville: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.0636555,-88.2046153,297m/data=!3m1!1e3
Rest areas south of I-64 on I-57 in Illinois were closed for short term with signs saying
"Rest Area Closed....
Sorry!"
Was a political move.
Quote from: SSOWorld on May 02, 2018, 08:14:47 PM
Rest areas south of I-64 on I-57 in Illinois were closed for short term with signs saying
"Rest Area Closed....
Sorry!"
The moose out front should have told you...
QuoteThe moose out front should have told you...
"Sorry folks. Our rest areas are closed for an indefinite period while IDIOT continues to defer maintenance and repair on our highway system. Sorry!!!"
Quote from: roadman on May 03, 2018, 03:46:44 PM
QuoteThe moose out front should have told you...
"Sorry folks. Our rest areas are closed for an indefinite period while IDIOT continues to defer maintenance and repair on our highway system. Sorry!!!"
"The statehouse says you're closed, I say you're open!"
The Price Creek Rest Area, on I-90 east of Snoqualmie Pass, Washington. All my life when I rode past it, it looked like an abandoned rest area. The state must have later chosen to put up restrooms off the freeway on SR 906 near the ski areas instead. The westbound rest area was open in winter for Sno-Park parking. Then a few years ago, they put in primitive toilets in the eastbound rest area, and put up multiple small signs for the rest area by the wide shoulder leading up to the area, where semis often parked by the shores of Lake Keechelus. Hmm. I wonder what that was implying? It turns out, the rest area is right where the state is building an ambitious, large wildlife overcrossing. Looking in 2015's SR Web coverage of the area, the eastbound camera car drove right through the rest area at freeway speeds, as it was used as a detour. The intact rest area is still on Google Maps and Street View, but the satellite image (https://www.google.com/maps/@47.3215647,-121.3238459,534m/data=!3m1!1e3) shows the area in transition.
Teanaway, at the junctions of routes 970 and 10, is another abandoned rest area. I have ground level photos somewhere in my collection. Google Satellite View (https://www.google.com/maps/@47.1744071,-120.8525571,267m/data=!3m1!1e3)
(Whoops, didn't see thefraze's similar post upthread.)
Quote from: KEK Inc. on April 17, 2015, 09:47:28 PM
Not sure if this was a rest stop or a weigh station, but here's something in Vancouver, WA. I-5 NB off the Fourth Plain off-ramp.
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.634885,-122.662412,3a,70.5y,20.33h,90.22t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1scDUg3LpF12pmbbp4wHBYRA!2e0
Wow, I remember seeing that Rest Area/Welcome center on old state highway maps, but I could never find where it was driving by. Thank you.
Here's a detail from the 1978 Washington State Highways map showing that this was a Travel Information Center, not necessarily a rest area. The interchange diagrams from this map were the reason I am a road geek.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1751/27645380377_28902b3f08.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/J7VNrg)1978 Washington State Highway Map detail showing the Vancouver Travel Information Center (https://flic.kr/p/J7VNrg) by Arthur Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/116988743@N07/), on Flickr
If you are referring to Travelers' Rest, it has been there for ages.
Check out this link:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/534591418250105176/
I was looking for something else regarding rest areas, but I have to remind the rest of you of the two that were closed on NY 24/Suffolk CR 94 on the Brookhaven-Riverhead Town Line.
http://gis.ny.gov/gisdata/quads/drg24/dotpreview/index.cfm?code=gg57
In my hometown of Clark, NJ we had one that is now a maintenance facility and the Glenside Rest Area in Woodbridge, NJ which is grass now. Both were listed as picnic areas by the Parkway cause they had no facilities but were closed due to partying and concern by area residents. Cranford had one as well right north of NJ 28 on the SB Side called Tall Oaks but was closed due to crime in a nearby neighborhood as burglars would use the area at night to park their vans and such, climb the fence, hit some houses, carry the goods in a sack while climbing back over the fence, and then load their vehicles and drive away. Like Glenside, Tall Oaks pavement is removed and no remnants of the former area are left.
https://goo.gl/maps/RPuJnzGeVHrJqHXz7 (https://goo.gl/maps/RPuJnzGeVHrJqHXz7)
Not really "abandonned", the "Aire de services Point-du-Jour" (Point-du-Jour services area) was closed about three years ago, in order to be replaced by a brand new Quebec's Services Areas. The problem is we're still waiting the works to begin. The old buildings are still in place, the parking lots are open, and the restrooms are replaced by a lot of "Johnny-on-the-spot".
I've been comparing maps, and boy has Ohio abandoned/demolished/closed a lot of non-Interstate rest areas in the past 10-15 years. Like a ton. I'm thinking that I'm going to start driving around and photographing them.
Quote from: GCrites80s on July 28, 2019, 10:44:07 AM
I've been comparing maps, and boy has Ohio abandoned/demolished/closed a lot of non-Interstate rest areas in the past 10-15 years. Like a ton. I'm thinking that I'm going to start driving around and photographing them.
You should. I would if I were you. Unfortunately I haven't been to Ohio since 1983, and at least two of my Ohio-based relatives are dead, and their kids have moved to other parts of the country (and possibly the state), so I have very little call to visit the Buckeye State.
There was one on I-40 near I-440 west of Little Rock, but it appears that is going to now be the site of a new interchange
Quote from: inkyatari on March 09, 2018, 03:55:35 PM
I've noticed a distinct lack of Illinois in this thread, so here's a few that I guess get in on technicalities.
First, here's this on I-39. it was just a semi parking area when this stretch of I-39 first opened. It was never a full rest area with facilities...
In retrospect, it looks like a closed weigh station, but I could have sworn there was a closed truck parking lot...
https://goo.gl/maps/rq6DDSVpRCU2
The overall design is more for a weight station - rest areas in Illinois don't usually have the 'loop' roadway. Here's the weigh station on EB I-80 just after the IL 84 for comparison (https://goo.gl/maps/DtMmEeHa8b6ykpQPA).
Quote from: US71 on July 28, 2019, 06:27:04 PM
There was one on I-40 near I-440 west of Little Rock, but it appears that is going to now be the site of a new interchange
That happens too. There used to be a pair of small parking areas with picnic tables and cooking grilles off of NY 27 until Suffolk CR 97 was built, but the parking areas were left on the maps for decades, even after they upgraded the widened intersection to the cloverleaf interchange with service roads that NYSDOT originally wanted.
And unless I'm mistaken, the interchange between I-10 and the First Coast Expressway replaced some rest areas in Duval County, FL.
Quote from: GCrites80s on July 28, 2019, 10:44:07 AM
I've been comparing maps, and boy has Ohio abandoned/demolished/closed a lot of non-Interstate rest areas in the past 10-15 years. Like a ton. I'm thinking that I'm going to start driving around and photographing them.
I just wrote down all the ones from just South Central Ohio and the counties surrounding Columbus and it totaled 36 closed rest areas going back to the '60s. Appalachian Ohio was totally packed with primitive rest areas -- many on seemingly-insignificant 3-digit state routes. As you can imagine, most were primitive. This is going to be a big job. I don't know if I can do the whole state. I'm not including the older "roadside parks" that were just a small parking lot and some picnic tables either.
https://goo.gl/maps/dNPLwSfHCcvvzHdC9
What about this one, close to MM112 of the Adirondack Northway (I-87 SB)?
Quote from: Marc_in_CT on January 14, 2014, 04:19:32 PM
And here's a pair from I-95 in SC. I passed through here about a year ago also, and I believe these buildings were also still standing.https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=34.279502,-79.685222&spn=0.003005,0.005107&t=h&z=18 (https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=34.279502,-79.685222&spn=0.003005,0.005107&t=h&z=18)
Quote from: Zzonkmiles on December 03, 2014, 04:02:06 PM
I don't know the specific mile markers offhand, but I know there's a closed down rest area on I-20 around MM 45 and on I-95 somewhere between Florence and the NC state line.
I've mentioned this one before. It's around MM 171, and the buildings are gone now. It's that one I've always felt drawn to and I wanted to go there in 2010 to find out why, only to find out SCDOT closed it before my road trip that year.
Four of them on I-77 got knocked out when the Olin median rest area opened up: This one (https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1037366,-80.813208,3a,37.5y,30.73h,96.8t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s49zX1yBcDJ6sVDNzqyXIgQ!2e0!5s20160701T000000!7i13312!8i6656) at Hamptonville, NC, this one (https://www.google.com/maps/@35.9765307,-80.8401712,3a,75y,215.5h,89.46t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sPbu75bM0KaV84lSQG1XZBQ!2e0!5s20160701T000000!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DPbu75bM0KaV84lSQG1XZBQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D176.80858%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656) at Harmony, NC, and this one (https://www.google.com/maps/@35.6316627,-80.8623361,3a,75y,327.62h,94.19t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sutQLTIeyFN45npSp1AurcQ!2e0!5s20160701T000000!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DutQLTIeyFN45npSp1AurcQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D339.7919%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656) at Mooresville, NC (there's a southbound one as well across the highway from this one).
AFAIK, all four got reverted into grass, though there is some traces of them around, particularly at the former NB Mooresville rest area, where storm drains (https://www.google.com/maps/@35.6307742,-80.8626488,3a,15y,35.82h,87.7t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sN7zDTPYui3E25Dj9t15PuQ!2e0!5s20180501T000000!7i16384!8i8192) are still present
Quote from: Richard3 on July 30, 2019, 05:13:12 AM
https://goo.gl/maps/dNPLwSfHCcvvzHdC9
What about this one, close to MM112 of the Adirondack Northway (I-87 SB)?
This pair and the one just north of Exit 27 were removed with the opening of the current rest areas at MM 100. The NB in both spots has been retained as a parking area.
Quote from: Bitmapped on April 16, 2015, 10:36:58 PM
There is abandoned rest area along US 219 near Keysers Ridge, MD. The large parking lot with a scenic view remains. There is a modern building there with flush restrooms but it's been fenced off since about 2009. Google Maps Street View: http://goo.gl/maps/Oi8jq
There are also the remains of an old rest area along Scenic US 40 atop Sideling Hill west of Hancock, MD. The facilities are still there but they're blocked off and No Trespassing signs are poste.d GMSV: http://goo.gl/maps/N96FM
The rest area along US 219 might not count; this page (https://www.roads.maryland.gov/Index.aspx?Pageid=250) claims that the parking lot is open and available. I passed by that rest area recently and the parking lot appeared to be open.
I think these are the only abandoned, or partially abandoned, rest areas in all of MD. Some of the rest areas have been downgraded, closed for a time and then reopened, or have been closed, rebuilt and reopened, but the SHA and the MDTA have generally retained the rest areas that exist today. I'd argue that the only underserved through highway that could use a rest area of some sort is US 340, in the vicinity of Catoctin Creek.
Not sure if this was an abandoned rest stop or weigh station, but there's this (https://www.google.com/maps/@35.759148,-81.0353533,314m/data=!3m1!1e3) west of Statesville, NC (there was one WB as well)
This (https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7590321,-81.0356828,3a,75y,76.89h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snQevrXUeE5XkuqTlfQvaRQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) would lead me to believe it was a weigh station, but a very small one
I saw a couple in Montana this week on I-90. They just left the structures and let the overgrowth take over the property.
Quote from: TheOneKEA on December 30, 2019, 05:26:37 PM
Quote from: Bitmapped on April 16, 2015, 10:36:58 PM
There is abandoned rest area along US 219 near Keysers Ridge, MD. The large parking lot with a scenic view remains. There is a modern building there with flush restrooms but it's been fenced off since about 2009. Google Maps Street View: http://goo.gl/maps/Oi8jq
There are also the remains of an old rest area along Scenic US 40 atop Sideling Hill west of Hancock, MD. The facilities are still there but they're blocked off and No Trespassing signs are poste.d GMSV: http://goo.gl/maps/N96FM
The rest area along US 219 might not count; this page (https://www.roads.maryland.gov/Index.aspx?Pageid=250) claims that the parking lot is open and available. I passed by that rest area recently and the parking lot appeared to be open.
I think these are the only abandoned, or partially abandoned, rest areas in all of MD. Some of the rest areas have been downgraded, closed for a time and then reopened, or have been closed, rebuilt and reopened, but the SHA and the MDTA have generally retained the rest areas that exist today. I'd argue that the only underserved through highway that could use a rest area of some sort is US 340, in the vicinity of Catoctin Creek.
There might possibly be one other pair of abandoned rest areas in Maryland, both on I-70:
-The eastbound truck rest area (no facilities) before exit 68 (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3652072,-77.1889697,348m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)
-The westbound weigh station after exit 80 (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3180467,-76.9791467,348m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)
Both contain a still-paved, but blocked off, parking area for (presumably) cars.
I-66 also has a pair of abandoned rest areas on the western section:
-eastbound before exit 6 (still open for truck parking, but no facilities) (https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9825867,-78.2325942,700m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)
-westbound after exit 18 (completely abandoned) (https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9088908,-78.0266501,701m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)
FWIW, I'm somewhat surprised that the rest area pair further east near Manassas continues to hangs on.
Quote from: jmacswimmer on June 27, 2020, 06:44:04 PM
Quote from: TheOneKEA on December 30, 2019, 05:26:37 PM
Quote from: Bitmapped on April 16, 2015, 10:36:58 PM
There is abandoned rest area along US 219 near Keysers Ridge, MD. The large parking lot with a scenic view remains. There is a modern building there with flush restrooms but it's been fenced off since about 2009. Google Maps Street View: http://goo.gl/maps/Oi8jq
There are also the remains of an old rest area along Scenic US 40 atop Sideling Hill west of Hancock, MD. The facilities are still there but they're blocked off and No Trespassing signs are poste.d GMSV: http://goo.gl/maps/N96FM
The rest area along US 219 might not count; this page (https://www.roads.maryland.gov/Index.aspx?Pageid=250) claims that the parking lot is open and available. I passed by that rest area recently and the parking lot appeared to be open.
I think these are the only abandoned, or partially abandoned, rest areas in all of MD. Some of the rest areas have been downgraded, closed for a time and then reopened, or have been closed, rebuilt and reopened, but the SHA and the MDTA have generally retained the rest areas that exist today. I'd argue that the only underserved through highway that could use a rest area of some sort is US 340, in the vicinity of Catoctin Creek.
There might possibly be one other pair of abandoned rest areas in Maryland, both on I-70:
-The eastbound truck rest area (no facilities) before exit 68 (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3652072,-77.1889697,348m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)
-The westbound weigh station after exit 80 (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3180467,-76.9791467,348m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)
Both contain a still-paved, but blocked off, parking area for (presumably) cars.
I-66 also has a pair of abandoned rest areas on the western section:
-eastbound before exit 6 (still open for truck parking, but no facilities) (https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9825867,-78.2325942,700m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)
-westbound after exit 18 (completely abandoned) (https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9088908,-78.0266501,701m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)
FWIW, I'm somewhat surprised that the rest area pair further east near Manassas continues to hangs on.
That I-66 Exit 18 rest area was never opened. It was fully built, paved, etc, but was never opened. Why, I don't know.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet, but I-275 in Cincinnati had a pair of rest areas pretty close to the Milford exits. I don't know when they were decommissioned. Still fairly common to see oversize loads and state troopers parked on the ramps. Kind of bizarre for a rest area to exist on 275 at all since there's no more than 15-20 miles between exits at any given point.
...also, does anyone know why the EB I-74 rest area near Batesville, Indiana was closed and demolished while the WB rest area remained open? Both were active until they started the repaving project a couple years ago.
I think the I-275 pair closed in the late 2000s.
So what was the deal with this on I-20 East on the Louisiana/Mississippi border? Contractor build the LA Welcome Center on the wrong side and have to start over? But seriously was it going to be a weigh station or was Louisiana going to be neighborly and build a rest area for travelers leaving the state and save Mississippi from having to build one?
https://www.google.com/maps/@32.3240165,-90.9912656,1252m/data=!3m1!1e3
Quote from: GCrites80s on August 10, 2020, 08:31:53 PM
I think the I-275 pair closed in the late 2000s.
They were closed when I moved to Northern Kentucky in late 1994. I believe they were closed either in the late 1980's or very early 1990's.
There was a BBS posted until the early 2000's before the rest area NB on I-275 giving the distances to both the I-71 and I-75 NB rest areas as 30 miles.
Those rest areas near Batesville were reconstructed around 2006. Why would they close and demolish it so soon after re-doing it?
Quote from: Voyager75 on August 10, 2020, 09:25:59 PM
So what was the deal with this on I-20 East on the Louisiana/Mississippi border? Contractor build the LA Welcome Center on the wrong side and have to start over? But seriously was it going to be a weigh station or was Louisiana going to be neighborly and build a rest area for travelers leaving the state and save Mississippi from having to build one?
https://www.google.com/maps/@32.3240165,-90.9912656,1252m/data=!3m1!1e3
It was originally rest areas. The one WB is now a welcome center
Quote from: amroad17 on August 10, 2020, 09:49:22 PM
Quote from: GCrites80s on August 10, 2020, 08:31:53 PM
I think the I-275 pair closed in the late 2000s.
They were closed when I moved to Northern Kentucky in late 1994. I believe they were closed either in the late 1980's or very early 1990's.
There was a BBS posted until the early 2000's before the rest area NB on I-275 giving the distances to both the I-71 and I-75 NB rest areas as 30 miles.
You're right, I must have mixed up my memories with another pair of rest areas. Historic Aerials has no imagery of the rest areas open since it jumps from 1970 to 1994. You can see that they were razed by 1994.
WA 970 & WA 10 (former US 10) south of Cle Ellum. Popular rendezvous spot for carpooling hikers.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50242523008_6970bd13f4_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jxL4EG)
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on August 18, 2020, 11:38:44 PM
WA 970 & WA 10 (former US 10) south of Cle Ellum. Popular rendezvous spot for carpooling hikers.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50242523008_6970bd13f4_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jxL4EG)
I've always wondered about that one. What is the story behind it? When did it close and what facilities did it have?
FWIW, until about 1969, this was where US 10 and US 97 split, and WA 970 was US 97 until 97 was moved to its current routing circa-1975.
There is one on US 71 just as you enter Arkansas that was the Tourist Info Center for many years. It was abandoned probably 15-20 years ago and torn down.
The RA's on I-40 just before I-430 were replaced last year with a new exit.
https://goo.gl/maps/XK1xt8PC1pWC9Rcb9
Here's a variation on closed rest areas. Oklahoma closed both the NB and SB rest areas on I-35 at MM 148 in the early 90's due to a problem with prostitution. However, about 2 months ago, they reopened both of them. The rest rooms and vending building were razed when the areas were closed but the parking areas are still good.
Quote from: rte66man on September 07, 2020, 09:32:54 AM
Here's a variation on closed rest areas. Oklahoma closed both the NB and SB rest areas on I-35 at MM 148 in the early 90's due to a problem with prostitution. However, about 2 months ago, they reopened both of them. The rest rooms and vending building were razed when the areas were closed but the parking areas are still good.
MODOT did something similar with some of their rest areas: they razed the buildings and turned it into Truck Parking with a porta john
Arizona has reopened 2 rest areas to trucks only near Flagstaff due to COVID.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2020/04/13/2-rest-stops-northern-arizona-reopen-help-truck-drivers/2983650001/
In South Carolina: The rest areas at around Mile 89 (15 miles from Spartanburg) were closed sometime in 2011. The SB rest area was turned into a Blythe Construction field office. GSV has partial footage from the NB rest area.
https://goo.gl/maps/kjeszVqAryRjPqbp7 (https://goo.gl/maps/kjeszVqAryRjPqbp7)
Quote from: US71 on September 07, 2020, 09:45:59 AM
Quote from: rte66man on September 07, 2020, 09:32:54 AM
Here's a variation on closed rest areas. Oklahoma closed both the NB and SB rest areas on I-35 at MM 148 in the early 90's due to a problem with prostitution. However, about 2 months ago, they reopened both of them. The rest rooms and vending building were razed when the areas were closed but the parking areas are still good.
MODOT did something similar with some of their rest areas: they razed the buildings and turned it into Truck Parking with a porta john
Here is a good example:
Rest Area (https://www.google.com/maps/@37.1407788,-93.7201139,3a,41.4y,308.87h,86.32t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxCYUC9Q_qs0ReFHXTKY-xw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656) ---> Truck Parking (https://www.google.com/maps/@37.1407663,-93.7201385,3a,65y,309.59h,86.85t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sv_mGdLXg_Knp6Q8cAVZa0Q!2e0!5s20190701T000000!7i16384!8i8192)
The only reason I can think of to get rid of it is to cut down on operating/maintenance costs.
Probably already mentioned, but I-195 in Seekonk, MA has been closed for at least a decade. MassDOT uses it as construction staging.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7649592,-71.2366461,3a,83.1y,179.24h,85.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCOIhZHSpmehFoeFxwyw5Yw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 (https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7649592,-71.2366461,3a,83.1y,179.24h,85.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCOIhZHSpmehFoeFxwyw5Yw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192)
Its notblocked off or signed "Do Not Enter" so I don't think it would be illegal to stop in there.
Not exactly abandoned, but there's this rest area c. 1970 on what was then CT 15 (now I-84) in Vernon.
http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/magic_2/raster/37800/aerial/1970/flight_line_14/adimg_37800_00_14ct4063_1970_s20_DPW_1_tf.tif (http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/magic_2/raster/37800/aerial/1970/flight_line_14/adimg_37800_00_14ct4063_1970_s20_DPW_1_tf.tif)
The land the westbound (top) one is sitting on is now Exit 65, the eastbound one is now a CONNDOT maintenance yard.
Near Richmond IN on I-70:
Eastbound at IN mile 143 (while westbound was relocated slightly west and rebuilt into a welcome center) (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.8603814,-85.0223684,887m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e1?hl=en)
Westbound at OH mile 3 (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.8284735,-84.7597784,3a,75y,22.42h,85.23t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1szMuYkbG9AvOHT3f3MIW6UQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e1?hl=en) (and eastbound rebuilt (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.8284695,-84.7613358,3a,75y,172.49h,85.23t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sXJ8vpKTtRrO8eCsuWQPmKA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e1?hl=en))
Seems like a logical move on both sides since these pairs were only 15 miles apart.
Quote from: thefraze_1020 on August 20, 2020, 05:54:04 PM
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on August 18, 2020, 11:38:44 PM
WA 970 & WA 10 (former US 10) south of Cle Ellum. Popular rendezvous spot for carpooling hikers.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50242523008_6970bd13f4_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jxL4EG)
I've always wondered about that one. What is the story behind it? When did it close and what facilities did it have?
FWIW, until about 1969, this was where US 10 and US 97 split, and WA 970 was US 97 until 97 was moved to its current routing circa-1975.
It looks as though I have answered my own question, at least partially. On the WSDOT digital library collection website, I found a document from 2003 about proposed improvements to WA 970. The document makes mention of a "mini-rest area" at the junction between WA 970 and WA 10. It had portable toilets, picnic tables, a parking area and dumpsters. Apparently this site was dismantled "about ten years ago" (which would be circa 1993) due to budget cuts.
Interestingly, the document multiple times mentions the possibility of WSDOT constructing a new rest area at the WA 970 and US 97 junction. But this was 17 years ago, so unlikely to happen.
Also, the rest area located at "Teanaway Juntion" is mentioned in the July, 1963 issue of "Washington Highway News", so it existed at least since then. The mention was in an article about roadside parks. The article states that at time, there were 121 such roadside parks operating in the state.
Again, likely already mentioned, but there are two abandoned EB/WB rest areas on I-74 in Cain Township, Indiana, just east of Veedersburg. Looks like one was restricted to cars only and the other was for trucks only.
I don't see anything replacing them on the westbound side, but there is a newer rest area on the eastbound side just past the IL/IN state line.
This one on US280 north of Auburn, AL has been closed for years now.
https://www.google.com/maps/@32.6770998,-85.4873509,325m/data=!3m1!1e3
Quote from: bdmoss88 on October 18, 2020, 11:06:28 AM
This one on US280 north of Auburn, AL has been closed for years now.
https://www.google.com/maps/@32.6770998,-85.4873509,325m/data=!3m1!1e3
Interesting that all the buildings with that one are perfectly intact though.
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on August 18, 2020, 11:38:44 PM
WA 970 & WA 10 (former US 10) south of Cle Ellum. Popular rendezvous spot for carpooling hikers.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50242523008_6970bd13f4_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jxL4EG)
If your still interested I might be able to give a little info. Yes this use to be a rest stop, though I'd describe it as more of a wayside, it could not accommodate semi-tracks. I believe it was a highway 10 wayside, and there was no signage for it on I-90 that I recall. IIRC, it closed in the early 90's
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on June 02, 2018, 11:07:52 AM
Here's a detail from the 1978 Washington State Highways map showing that this was a Travel Information Center, not necessarily a rest area. The interchange diagrams from this map were the reason I am a road geek.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1751/27645380377_28902b3f08.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/J7VNrg)1978 Washington State Highway Map detail showing the Vancouver Travel Information Center (https://flic.kr/p/J7VNrg) by Arthur Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/116988743@N07/), on Flickr
If you look at this on a modern map such as google. https://maps.app.goo.gl/ikjV2KnjGM2vUKeV7 Check out the street view while your there. The original lot has been cut in half with a chainlink fence. The travel center and car parking lot is the "silver" lot for Clark county collage. Looks like the built a road to East Mcloughlin road to access it. I remember it being a Washington state welcome center. It's to bad they closed it, but it's good that the facility has lived on. Also understandable that they closed it given it was undersized for being just north of Portland, and Gee creek rest area is much larger and only 10 miles up the road. Anyhow thi welcome center closed in the late 90's
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.713213,-81.4500605,287m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu (https://www.google.com/maps/@35.713213,-81.4500605,287m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu)
This abandoned rest area on I-40 near Icard, NC. EB only, does not seem to be one WB
EDIT-I take that back. There WAS a WB one, but virtually all trace of it has been removed.
There was a pair on I-95 just north of exit 170 outside of Florence, South Carolina that have been closed since 2010, but the old roadbeds remain. I got a picture of the former northbound entrance this past October, where there is a sign "REST AREA CLOSED/EXIT 181 10 MILES" (but I'm struggling to upload it to link here).
Quote from: sirrobyn0 on December 17, 2023, 02:36:07 PM
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on June 02, 2018, 11:07:52 AM
Here's a detail from the 1978 Washington State Highways map showing that this was a Travel Information Center, not necessarily a rest area. The interchange diagrams from this map were the reason I am a road geek.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1751/27645380377_28902b3f08.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/J7VNrg)1978 Washington State Highway Map detail showing the Vancouver Travel Information Center (https://flic.kr/p/J7VNrg) by Arthur Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/116988743@N07/), on Flickr
If you look at this on a modern map such as google. https://maps.app.goo.gl/ikjV2KnjGM2vUKeV7 Check out the street view while your there. The original lot has been cut in half with a chainlink fence. The travel center and car parking lot is the "silver" lot for Clark county collage. Looks like the built a road to East Mcloughlin road to access it. I remember it being a Washington state welcome center. It's to bad they closed it, but it's good that the facility has lived on. Also understandable that they closed it given it was undersized for being just north of Portland, and Gee creek rest area is much larger and only 10 miles up the road. Anyhow thi welcome center closed in the late 90's
That is probably one of the most unique re-uses of a rest area that I have heard of. I suppose ones closer to cities are more likely to see this sort of thing.
Quote from: GCrites80s on December 17, 2023, 08:30:12 PM
Quote from: sirrobyn0 on December 17, 2023, 02:36:07 PM
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on June 02, 2018, 11:07:52 AM
Here's a detail from the 1978 Washington State Highways map showing that this was a Travel Information Center, not necessarily a rest area. The interchange diagrams from this map were the reason I am a road geek.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1751/27645380377_28902b3f08.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/J7VNrg)1978 Washington State Highway Map detail showing the Vancouver Travel Information Center (https://flic.kr/p/J7VNrg) by Arthur Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/116988743@N07/), on Flickr
If you look at this on a modern map such as google. https://maps.app.goo.gl/ikjV2KnjGM2vUKeV7 Check out the street view while your there. The original lot has been cut in half with a chainlink fence. The travel center and car parking lot is the "silver" lot for Clark county collage. Looks like the built a road to East Mcloughlin road to access it. I remember it being a Washington state welcome center. It's to bad they closed it, but it's good that the facility has lived on. Also understandable that they closed it given it was undersized for being just north of Portland, and Gee creek rest area is much larger and only 10 miles up the road. Anyhow thi welcome center closed in the late 90's
That is probably one of the most unique re-uses of a rest area that I have heard of. I suppose ones closer to cities are more likely to see this sort of thing.
I agree and next time I'm in the area I might just have to detour down there to see what the building is like today.
Ok so here is a couple of good ones. My favorite abandoned rest stops, or really I'd call these waysides. I have a personal attachment to them because I remember stopping at them when I was a kid with my parents and later on with my wife while headed out to the coast to vacation. So these are both off of SR 8 in Washington between highway I-5 and the coast. Back in 1926 the first highway was built on this basic route and it was SR410. In 1964 the highway system was renumber in Washington and that highway became SR8, sometime in the 60's some route straightening was performed. That left short loops of old SR410 that they then used for wayside type rest areas.
First one can be seen here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/kCcf3hVrd5KkiSPc9 As you can see one end no longer connects to SR8, but it use to. Though this is the better loop of the two, the state had less space to work with and it would have been impossible for trucks to use. This rest area closed I think in the mid-70's, because I do not remember it.
When they closed the first wayside they moved it 3.3 miles west to another portion of old SR410, you can see that here. https://maps.app.goo.gl/45ocFvbAj86jo8oe7 This rest area could accommodate RVs a trucks a little better, but it still wasn't great. Facilities were picnic tables and pit toilets. In this image you can see where the onramp connected back to SR8, they have pretty much obliterated the off ramp. https://maps.app.goo.gl/R3ASCB6B45uX6RSf9
There was a large purpose built rest area for the east bound folks and in the early 90's they built an overpass a mile from that rest area which enabled west bound folks to turn back and be able to use the west bound rest area making it multi-directional. You can see that still operating rest area here if you like: https://maps.app.goo.gl/wbnTYCDiAw9ZBasEA And that ended the smaller wet bound waysides.
SR2 in Washington, this is an odd duck.... https://maps.app.goo.gl/hmHNXzb8eWxP3xT79 There was a wayside there up until the early 80's. It's right on the banks of the Wallace river and there was some land washed away in the early 80's and the state closed it. But in the late 90's they reopened it! In this image from 2008 https://maps.app.goo.gl/Fh7VoKDSymPEtoQ9A you can see the wayside still in operation. Portapotties on the left, picnic shelter straight ahead by the RV, there were other picnic tables closer to the rivers as well. Sometime around 2009 - 2010 the wayside closed suddenly and all buildings removed. See this 2013 image, https://maps.app.goo.gl/bB97v7HsMDi5jGJ97 though the wayside is closed and jersey barriers prevent driving into it you can see folks were still using it to access the river. See this 2023 image, https://maps.app.goo.gl/pv7jJQPhTZTQike36 looks like you probably can't walk though the brush to get to the river anymore. Such a shame the loss of that wayside, making the only other rest area on the west side of the mountains the seasonally open Deception falls 30 miles to the east.
Ok I've got a couple more I'd like to share in Washington and then I'll hit a couple I know about in Oregon.
So I don't remember this rest stop, or wayside, but I've had a few people give me vague information about it and maybe just maybe someone here will have some additional information or maybe be able to look on an old Washington state highway map.
So this was on highway 202 between Redmond and Fall City, Wa. The most likely locations would be at either end of the measurement on the map. https://maps.app.goo.gl/1Typ1n8S7MrK8aNH6 I've been told that there may have been a small camping loop at this rest stop. But I'm not banking to much stock into that, but it's possible. It would have been closed in the 70's some time I think. I know little else. Maybe someone can help me out with this.
Thanks.
Thank you for reviving some of my posts. WSDOT released a plan for maintaining and upgrading their rest areas, which has been mentioned in the news. I found this large PDF giving all the information: https://wsdot.wa.gov/construction-planning/statewide-plans/safety-rest-area-strategic-plan Looking through it, I found that the first rest area on I-90 west of Idaho is no longer an official WSDOT rest area. The last time I used it was when I entered from the Centennial Trail, which is a courtesy I wish could be granted from the trail along side the now-surely-permanently-abandoned rest area south of Everett. The Spokane rest area is still accessible by turning off the interchange and driving around, but now its more geared towards being a local park. The old entrance area is now a watercraft inspection station. https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6966432,-117.0521954,17z?entry=ttu
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on December 19, 2023, 01:05:09 AM
Thank you for reviving some of my posts. WSDOT released a plan for maintaining and upgrading their rest areas, which has been mentioned in the news. I found this large PDF giving all the information: https://wsdot.wa.gov/construction-planning/statewide-plans/safety-rest-area-strategic-plan Looking through it, I found that the first rest area on I-90 west of Idaho is no longer an official WSDOT rest area. The last time I used it was when I entered from the Centennial Trail, which is a courtesy I wish could be granted from the trail along side the now-surely-permanently-abandoned rest area south of Everett. The Spokane rest area is still accessible by turning off the interchange and driving around, but now its more geared towards being a local park. The old entrance area is now a watercraft inspection station. https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6966432,-117.0521954,17z?entry=ttu
It's a topic I much enjoy especially in areas I've been and I've been all of the state!
Yea the one south of Everett was Silverlake rest area. It's to bad when a rest area in our area has a problem (like homeless or crime) the states solution is to close it. As of earlier in the year the buildings are still there so I guess there is some hope. Frankly I'm surprised the Tacoma rest area hasn't been closed.
I noticed the article you linked says "Introduces the concept of piloting alternative site formats...." I really hope that doesn't imply privatized rest areas.
I remember the Liberty Lake / Spokane rest area. It's to bad it's no longer an official rest area, but at least it lives on as a park and those of us that know about it can still make use of it.
I've got another couple Wa. abandoned rest areas I want to post about in the next couple days when I get the chance, so there will be more coming from me on this thread.
Quote from: sirrobyn0 on December 18, 2023, 10:49:01 PM
Ok I've got a couple more I'd like to share in Washington and then I'll hit a couple I know about in Oregon.
So I don't remember this rest stop, or wayside, but I've had a few people give me vague information about it and maybe just maybe someone here will have some additional information or maybe be able to look on an old Washington state highway map.
So this was on highway 202 between Redmond and Fall City, Wa. The most likely locations would be at either end of the measurement on the map. https://maps.app.goo.gl/1Typ1n8S7MrK8aNH6 I've been told that there may have been a small camping loop at this rest stop. But I'm not banking to much stock into that, but it's possible. It would have been closed in the 70's some time I think. I know little else. Maybe someone can help me out with this.
Thanks.
Turning them into local parks is another creative but more common re-use as seen on OH-28 just outside Leesburg Ohio: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3530666,-83.5475382,3a,75y,352.27h,78.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sMIYKs_Fa3-y3ktRWrpeQoQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DMIYKs_Fa3-y3ktRWrpeQoQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D317.2418%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3530666,-83.5475382,3a,75y,352.27h,78.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sMIYKs_Fa3-y3ktRWrpeQoQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DMIYKs_Fa3-y3ktRWrpeQoQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D317.2418%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu)
Then we also have the dam access variant. Does this dam access also have a park with permanent restrooms? Is it on a state (or higher) highway? You know, we could just call it a rest area. This happened on US-52 next to the Greenup Dam (the bathrooms closed about 20 years ago so now it is not a rest area) on the Ohio side:https://www.google.com/maps/place/Greenup+Locks+%26+Dam/@38.6476807,-82.8554545,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x884662554b87c3f3:0x1809bea4827064dd!8m2!3d38.6470439!4d-82.858598!16s%2Fg%2F11clsg7f9g?entry=ttu (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Greenup+Locks+%26+Dam/@38.6476807,-82.8554545,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x884662554b87c3f3:0x1809bea4827064dd!8m2!3d38.6470439!4d-82.858598!16s%2Fg%2F11clsg7f9g?entry=ttu)
In the case of the Hannibal Locks and Dam the bathrooms are ostensibly still open and it has a park but DOTs might have been more reluctant to call them Rest Areas to cut down on dam visits after 9/11. I do recall this being called a rest area. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hannibal+Locks+and+Dam,+New+Martinsville,+WV+26155/@39.6658003,-80.8685429,384m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x8836010602a41aa1:0xf57b34b7e57b728c!8m2!3d39.6671034!4d-80.8654291!16s%2Fm%2F0cmdy9q?entry=ttu (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hannibal+Locks+and+Dam,+New+Martinsville,+WV+26155/@39.6658003,-80.8685429,384m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x8836010602a41aa1:0xf57b34b7e57b728c!8m2!3d39.6671034!4d-80.8654291!16s%2Fm%2F0cmdy9q?entry=ttu)
I think I might have related this before, but when I was young, my family and I drove about once a year from Chicago to Florida to visit my grandparents. We usually took I-65 to I-24 to I-75. While we were traveling, we regularly stopped at a number of rest areas for breaks, which would increasingly annoy my parents. Anyway, one time, when we stopped, I recall reading a plaque that had been posted stating that we were at the Elizabethtown rest area along with some history of the region. This bothered me because one of my sisters' names is Elizabeth, and I was a bit put out that she had a rest area named after her and I didn't.
A few years back, this moment came back to mind, and I tried to find it on Google Maps, but was not successful. Eventually, I found that the rest area had been closed and razed, and I felt sad that it was gone.
For the record, the rest area was here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/37%C2%B032'43.8%22N+85%C2%B052'51.3%22W/@37.5456115,-85.8824393,501m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d37.545498!4d-85.880919?entry=ttu
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on December 19, 2023, 12:54:14 PM
I think I might have related this before, but when I was young, my family and I drove about once a year from Chicago to Florida to visit my grandparents. We usually took I-65 to I-24 to I-75. While we were traveling, we regularly stopped at a number of rest areas for breaks, which would increasingly annoy my parents. Anyway, one time, when we stopped, I recall reading a plaque that had been posted stating that we were at the Elizabethtown rest area along with some history of the region. This bothered me because one of my sisters' names is Elizabeth, and I was a bit put out that she had a rest area named after her and I didn't.
A few years back, this moment came back to mind, and I tried to find it on Google Maps, but was not successful. Eventually, I found that the rest area had been closed and razed, and I felt sad that it was gone.
For the record, the rest area was here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/37%C2%B032'43.8%22N+85%C2%B052'51.3%22W/@37.5456115,-85.8824393,501m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d37.545498!4d-85.880919?entry=ttu
You should check it out on historical aerials. It's there in 2006, and looks still open, but the building is torn down and pavement gone but 2008.
Quote from: sirrobyn0 on December 19, 2023, 04:25:30 PM
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on December 19, 2023, 12:54:14 PM
I think I might have related this before, but when I was young, my family and I drove about once a year from Chicago to Florida to visit my grandparents. We usually took I-65 to I-24 to I-75. While we were traveling, we regularly stopped at a number of rest areas for breaks, which would increasingly annoy my parents. Anyway, one time, when we stopped, I recall reading a plaque that had been posted stating that we were at the Elizabethtown rest area along with some history of the region. This bothered me because one of my sisters' names is Elizabeth, and I was a bit put out that she had a rest area named after her and I didn't.
A few years back, this moment came back to mind, and I tried to find it on Google Maps, but was not successful. Eventually, I found that the rest area had been closed and razed, and I felt sad that it was gone.
For the record, the rest area was here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/37%C2%B032'43.8%22N+85%C2%B052'51.3%22W/@37.5456115,-85.8824393,501m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d37.545498!4d-85.880919?entry=ttu
You should check it out on historical aerials. It's there in 2006, and looks still open, but the building is torn down and pavement gone but 2008.
Since the two rest areas were built near Horse Cave on I-65 at mm 60, KYTC closed and razed that rest area and it's NB counterpart just north of the Sonora (81) interchange as well as two SB rest areas—one between Horse Cave and Cave City around mm 55 (which had one of the longest on-ramps I have ever seen at a rest area) https://maps.app.goo.gl/c9TE9yzR6QsV7rEw9, and the other around mm 30 north of Bowling Green that is now partially covered by Exit 30, which was completed a few years ago. https://maps.app.goo.gl/U8TdLNpa11Y4cV2d6. A NB rest area north of the Smith's Grove interchange (38) was also closed and razed. https://maps.app.goo.gl/uUZcCLN5AXttqrah8.
KYTC also closed the two rest areas on I-75 south of Richmond about 17-20 years ago around mm 83—just south of the Duncannon interchange where the Buc-ee's is now. https://maps.app.goo.gl/yrNBix8VyutjFgwu6
Funnily enough, there's another Buc-ee's goin' in at Smiths Grove on I-65 as well.
Quote from: freebrickproductions on December 19, 2023, 09:20:56 PM
Funnily enough, there's another Buc-ee's goin' in at Smiths Grove on I-65 as well.
Yes, I had forgotten about that! I see work has begun: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ocsxgtLnH1C7Peew7
I'd like to do a pair of rest stops off I-5 in Oregon. These would be the South Umpqua north rest area, and the south Umpqua south bound rest areas. Lets start with the Northbound rest area.
You can very the pavement which is all that's left here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/q4NppasWCJwECp2B9 As you can see this rest area was actually accessible from both directions, and when the south bound rest area closed indefinitely due to septic issues it was used that way.
This is the best view of the rest area I can find from when it was operational. https://maps.app.goo.gl/Zssi4hG6TWZ6y6iV6
This use to be a must stop at rest area for us, because it was huge, and it was great to walk the dog. And right behind where the picture is taken from is the South Umpqua river, so there was a view of the river This rest area closed around 2010 when the Jordan creek rest stop opened. ODOT removed the buildings, built a storage shed on the site and they use it for material storage. To bad this was a really great rest area.
South bound. In comparison there is nothing special about this rest area, it was just an average highway rest area though it did have a lot of open space.
You can see what is left here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/4XfaBM8qWT1kVBUc6
This rest area closed around 2008 due to septic issues that were never fixed. When the Jordan creek rest stop opened this one was closed for good. The buildings were removed and the front part of the rest area was converted into a weigh station around 2010 - 11 or so. While there are no facilities left here anymore the paved parking is still used for truck parking and inspection.
What it looks like today. https://maps.app.goo.gl/EHSiYu6PhkGZcJQD8
Quote from: amroad17 on December 19, 2023, 09:24:35 PM
Quote from: freebrickproductions on December 19, 2023, 09:20:56 PM
Funnily enough, there's another Buc-ee's goin' in at Smiths Grove on I-65 as well.
Yes, I had forgotten about that! I see work has begun: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ocsxgtLnH1C7Peew7
Don't have any pictures, but the buildings and the covers for the pumps were already in place when I was driving through earlier this month, though no doubt more work (especially inside) was still going on.
Quote from: amroad17 on December 19, 2023, 09:16:59 PM
Quote from: sirrobyn0 on December 19, 2023, 04:25:30 PM
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on December 19, 2023, 12:54:14 PM
I think I might have related this before, but when I was young, my family and I drove about once a year from Chicago to Florida to visit my grandparents. We usually took I-65 to I-24 to I-75. While we were traveling, we regularly stopped at a number of rest areas for breaks, which would increasingly annoy my parents. Anyway, one time, when we stopped, I recall reading a plaque that had been posted stating that we were at the Elizabethtown rest area along with some history of the region. This bothered me because one of my sisters' names is Elizabeth, and I was a bit put out that she had a rest area named after her and I didn't.
A few years back, this moment came back to mind, and I tried to find it on Google Maps, but was not successful. Eventually, I found that the rest area had been closed and razed, and I felt sad that it was gone.
For the record, the rest area was here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/37%C2%B032'43.8%22N+85%C2%B052'51.3%22W/@37.5456115,-85.8824393,501m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d37.545498!4d-85.880919?entry=ttu
You should check it out on historical aerials. It's there in 2006, and looks still open, but the building is torn down and pavement gone but 2008.
Since the two rest areas were built near Horse Cave on I-65 at mm 60, KYTC closed and razed that rest area and it's NB counterpart just north of the Sonora (81) interchange as well as two SB rest areas—one between Horse Cave and Cave City around mm 55 (which had one of the longest on-ramps I have ever seen at a rest area) https://maps.app.goo.gl/c9TE9yzR6QsV7rEw9, and the other around mm 30 north of Bowling Green that is now partially covered by Exit 30, which was completed a few years ago. https://maps.app.goo.gl/U8TdLNpa11Y4cV2d6. A NB rest area north of the Smith's Grove interchange (38) was also closed and razed. https://maps.app.goo.gl/uUZcCLN5AXttqrah8.
KYTC also closed the two rest areas on I-75 south of Richmond about 17-20 years ago around mm 83—just south of the Duncannon interchange where the Buc-ee's is now. https://maps.app.goo.gl/yrNBix8VyutjFgwu6
Thanks for the information here. I had no idea about any of this.
Quote from: Katavia on September 07, 2020, 08:29:25 PM
In South Carolina: The rest areas at around Mile 89 (15 miles from Spartanburg) were closed sometime in 2011. The SB rest area was turned into a Blythe Construction field office. GSV has partial footage from the NB rest area.
https://goo.gl/maps/kjeszVqAryRjPqbp7 (https://goo.gl/maps/kjeszVqAryRjPqbp7)
There are three other closed rest areas in SC that I'm aware of. One is the I-95 pair at around mm 171 just north of the SC 327 exit (the Buc-ee's exit). The other is I-26 westbound only at around mm 202 (its EB counterpart at around mm 204 remains open).
There are also several pull-offs which I assume used to be truck parking areas in SC, mostly along I-26, that have mostly been closed over the years. One set is at I-26 mm 9. Another is around mm 87 or 88 westbound between Little Mountain and Chapin, but it is in the process of being obliterated by the in-progress six-lane widening/reconstruction.
Two more from Oregon, Cow Creek north & south bound. Near Glendale Oregon these were also closed down when the Jordan creek rest stop opened.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ufgU3uVrh78GG7tk9
Northbound 2008 https://maps.app.goo.gl/jKtaitqqmMdPkw4aA
Southbound looked similar but isn't pictured on google.
While the Jordan creek rest stop is a very nice, new and well kept rest stop, it does mean a greater distance between them.
This https://maps.app.goo.gl/Cehsk9Ziep96CUhV7 Use to be the first Oregon rest area on I-5 coming up north out of California. At this point it seems like it has been totally forgotten about, but it was there and now it's generally used for material storage as you can see in the google link. It was the Neil creek rest area / Oregon welcome center. It was closed in the mid-90's. It's on the downgrade from the Syskiyou summit and the reason given at the time was that there had been a large increase in accidents the decade prior to it's closure.
There were plans for a new welcome center at the base of the grade, but that didn't come to fruition until 2019. Obviously not abandoned but if your interested it's here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/GVcj5fX26zm45U9s8 And probably the nicest rest area in the state.
Here is one on Southbound 35 in Oklahoma. https://www.google.com/maps/@33.7745676,-97.1337218,1127m/data=!3m1!1e3?authuser=0&entry=ttu . There is a rest area/Oklahoma welcome center for Northbound traffic but the Southbound rest area has been closed for a while. I have traveled to Oklahoma City from the DFW, TX area to visit family for a long time (30+ years) and remember when this was open but not sure exactly when it closed. It probably closed when the WinStar Casino opened 2003ish maybe...? It actually doesn't make a lot of sense for Southbound traffic when there is a Texas welcome center and rest stop just a few miles south of there. I am pretty sure there is another closed rest area on 35 in Oklahoma between the Texas/Oklahoma border and Oklahoma City but I will have to hunt it down...
I wouldn't be very excited about a rest area with a TKILTBAG that close by either.
Quote from: GCrites80s on December 19, 2023, 10:55:54 AM
Quote from: sirrobyn0 on December 18, 2023, 10:49:01 PM
Ok I've got a couple more I'd like to share in Washington and then I'll hit a couple I know about in Oregon.
So I don't remember this rest stop, or wayside, but I've had a few people give me vague information about it and maybe just maybe someone here will have some additional information or maybe be able to look on an old Washington state highway map.
So this was on highway 202 between Redmond and Fall City, Wa. The most likely locations would be at either end of the measurement on the map. https://maps.app.goo.gl/1Typ1n8S7MrK8aNH6 I've been told that there may have been a small camping loop at this rest stop. But I'm not banking to much stock into that, but it's possible. It would have been closed in the 70's some time I think. I know little else. Maybe someone can help me out with this.
Thanks.
Turning them into local parks is another creative but more common re-use as seen on OH-28 just outside Leesburg Ohio: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3530666,-83.5475382,3a,75y,352.27h,78.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sMIYKs_Fa3-y3ktRWrpeQoQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DMIYKs_Fa3-y3ktRWrpeQoQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D317.2418%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3530666,-83.5475382,3a,75y,352.27h,78.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sMIYKs_Fa3-y3ktRWrpeQoQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DMIYKs_Fa3-y3ktRWrpeQoQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D317.2418%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu)
Then we also have the dam access variant. Does this dam access also have a park with permanent restrooms? Is it on a state (or higher) highway? You know, we could just call it a rest area. This happened on US-52 next to the Greenup Dam (the bathrooms closed about 20 years ago so now it is not a rest area) on the Ohio side:https://www.google.com/maps/place/Greenup+Locks+%26+Dam/@38.6476807,-82.8554545,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x884662554b87c3f3:0x1809bea4827064dd!8m2!3d38.6470439!4d-82.858598!16s%2Fg%2F11clsg7f9g?entry=ttu (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Greenup+Locks+%26+Dam/@38.6476807,-82.8554545,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x884662554b87c3f3:0x1809bea4827064dd!8m2!3d38.6470439!4d-82.858598!16s%2Fg%2F11clsg7f9g?entry=ttu)
In the case of the Hannibal Locks and Dam the bathrooms are ostensibly still open and it has a park but DOTs might have been more reluctant to call them Rest Areas to cut down on dam visits after 9/11. I do recall this being called a rest area. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hannibal+Locks+and+Dam,+New+Martinsville,+WV+26155/@39.6658003,-80.8685429,384m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x8836010602a41aa1:0xf57b34b7e57b728c!8m2!3d39.6671034!4d-80.8654291!16s%2Fm%2F0cmdy9q?entry=ttu (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hannibal+Locks+and+Dam,+New+Martinsville,+WV+26155/@39.6658003,-80.8685429,384m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x8836010602a41aa1:0xf57b34b7e57b728c!8m2!3d39.6671034!4d-80.8654291!16s%2Fm%2F0cmdy9q?entry=ttu)
It's not closed, but here's a campground that's only accessible through a rest area:
(https://i.imgur.com/B7csFit.png) (https://www.google.com/maps/@47.0768034,-114.7707939,1217m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu)
We've got one set to close on the 11th on U.S. 23 north of South Bloomfield OH:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/South+Bloomfield,+OH+43103/@39.7365629,-82.985553,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x88477c27081651f5:0x6dac9323cac47643!8m2!3d39.7183962!4d-82.9868489!16zL20vMHowdDk?entry=ttu (https://www.google.com/maps/place/South+Bloomfield,+OH+43103/@39.7365629,-82.985553,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x88477c27081651f5:0x6dac9323cac47643!8m2!3d39.7183962!4d-82.9868489!16zL20vMHowdDk?entry=ttu)
Years ago there was talk of a rebuild but that probably got cancelled due to all the commercial development just south of the rest area with the deathblow being a Sheetz truck stop that opened last year. I don't know if the truck parking will be preserved (since demand for that is really high) or if it's going to get a full bulldoze. Being left in a zombie state like some of the ones seen in this thread seems unlikely.
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 07, 2024, 11:26:43 AM
We've got one set to close on the 11th on U.S. 23 north of South Bloomfield OH:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/South+Bloomfield,+OH+43103/@39.7365629,-82.985553,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x88477c27081651f5:0x6dac9323cac47643!8m2!3d39.7183962!4d-82.9868489!16zL20vMHowdDk?entry=ttu (https://www.google.com/maps/place/South+Bloomfield,+OH+43103/@39.7365629,-82.985553,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x88477c27081651f5:0x6dac9323cac47643!8m2!3d39.7183962!4d-82.9868489!16zL20vMHowdDk?entry=ttu)
Years ago there was talk of a rebuild but that probably got cancelled due to all the commercial development just south of the rest area with the deathblow being a Sheetz truck stop that opened last year. I don't know if the truck parking will be preserved (since demand for that is really high) or if it's going to get a full bulldoze. Being left in a zombie state like some of the ones seen in this thread seems unlikely.
False Alarm -- this one is getting renovated with an all-new building: https://www.sciotopost.com/pickawya-county-us-23-rest-area-will-be-closed-for-renovations-for-a-year/ (https://www.sciotopost.com/pickawya-county-us-23-rest-area-will-be-closed-for-renovations-for-a-year/)
I would bet money this has been mentioned already but I'm not going to look through 12 pages of posts right now.
Along the abandoned stretch of Pennsylvania Turnpike -- east of Sideling Hill Tunnel --- around Hustontown -- on the north side of the abandoned highway there is the site of the abandoned Cove Fort rest area. There's nothing there now except a cleared area. There is also IIRC a local road which approaches the back of this area (meaning to the north of the old turnpike) which must have been used for supply deliveries way back when.
What amazes me when I saw this area is how small it seemed to be, even by very old PA Turnpike standards.
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 10, 2024, 08:19:14 PM
Quote from: GCrites80s on January 07, 2024, 11:26:43 AM
We've got one set to close on the 11th on U.S. 23 north of South Bloomfield OH:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/South+Bloomfield,+OH+43103/@39.7365629,-82.985553,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x88477c27081651f5:0x6dac9323cac47643!8m2!3d39.7183962!4d-82.9868489!16zL20vMHowdDk?entry=ttu (https://www.google.com/maps/place/South+Bloomfield,+OH+43103/@39.7365629,-82.985553,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x88477c27081651f5:0x6dac9323cac47643!8m2!3d39.7183962!4d-82.9868489!16zL20vMHowdDk?entry=ttu)
Years ago there was talk of a rebuild but that probably got cancelled due to all the commercial development just south of the rest area with the deathblow being a Sheetz truck stop that opened last year. I don't know if the truck parking will be preserved (since demand for that is really high) or if it's going to get a full bulldoze. Being left in a zombie state like some of the ones seen in this thread seems unlikely.
False Alarm -- this one is getting renovated with an all-new building: https://www.sciotopost.com/pickawya-county-us-23-rest-area-will-be-closed-for-renovations-for-a-year/ (https://www.sciotopost.com/pickawya-county-us-23-rest-area-will-be-closed-for-renovations-for-a-year/)
Good to hear, drove by there yesterday and though for sure it was gone for good when I saw it closed off.
The ones in Franklin County just east of FM3050 are being repurposed as truck parking. https://maps.app.goo.gl/ohVcf2RGTtusCkU76 (https://maps.app.goo.gl/ohVcf2RGTtusCkU76) Construction is ongoing.
There is something going on at the ones in Bowie County, just west of FM 990. It may be the same thing. Supposedly, the Bowie County one was closed because of the cost of security as opposed to the upkeep issues. https://maps.app.goo.gl/KyennrYsTeWi8arB8 (https://maps.app.goo.gl/KyennrYsTeWi8arB8)
These are on opposite sides of FM 4204 which does not have connection to I-30 or to the Rest Areas.
Both sets had been closed 4 or 5 years ago. The ones in Franklin COunty were removed down to the dirt. The ones in Bowie COunty only had the restroom facilities torn down and the entrances barricaded.
It's demolished now but there's a service plaza off I-77 North a bit past Princeton (@ MM17) that's now just a parking lot and some rubble. It's currently being remodeled, so it'll be back in some time
Quote from: AABattery on January 19, 2024, 11:14:54 PM
It's demolished now but there's a service plaza off I-77 North a bit past Princeton (@ MM17) that's now just a parking lot and some rubble.
They're 'remodeling' it.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZWuiTtm7JYnKHQ369
Not abandoning it.
Ah alright
I'll edit it
US 50 in Illinois just west of the Indiana border. (https://maps.app.goo.gl/joYAZVNtBwo44wbM9) The 1999 Google Earth imagery shows the building, but the 2003 imagery does not.
I noticed on W bound I-70 the rest area in OH right before the IN boarder is gone
i
Quote from: sirrobyn0 on December 18, 2023, 10:49:01 PMOk I've got a couple more I'd like to share in Washington and then I'll hit a couple I know about in Oregon.
So I don't remember this rest stop, or wayside, but I've had a few people give me vague information about it and maybe just maybe someone here will have some additional information or maybe be able to look on an old Washington state highway map.
So this was on highway 202 between Redmond and Fall City, Wa. The most likely locations would be at either end of the measurement on the map. https://maps.app.goo.gl/1Typ1n8S7MrK8aNH6 I've been told that there may have been a small camping loop at this rest stop. But I'm not banking to much stock into that, but it's possible. It would have been closed in the 70's some time I think. I know little else. Maybe someone can help me out with this.
Thanks.
I immediately consulted my old maps when I read the above post months ago, but found nothing. Just now I saw the 1985 WSDOT inventory video on SR-202, and here is the rest stop, right where you guessed it would be. I have it cued up to where the driver announces the sign for the rest stop.
https://youtu.be/QP2VCeiYs24?si=ipIb0WoXhYnrfgZJ&t=1283
Quote from: Revive 755 on February 20, 2024, 11:33:04 PMUS 50 in Illinois just west of the Indiana border. (https://maps.app.goo.gl/joYAZVNtBwo44wbM9) The 1999 Google Earth imagery shows the building, but the 2003 imagery does not.
I believe that was to be an IL welcome center, had I-64 followed the 50/150 route to Louisville from St. Louis via Lawrenceville/Vincennes