Read more: Local, Modot, Budget Woes, Budget Problems, State Budget, Missouri Rest Areas, Rest Areas, Rest Stops, Motorists, Travelers, Traveling, Rest Areas for Travelers, Missouri Department of Transportation, Commercial Truck Drivers, Semi Drivers, Truck Drivers, Restrooms, Restrooms Along the Interstate, Boarded up Rest Area, America's Interstate System, Rest Areas Closed for Repairs, Safety for Drivers
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You see them along the interstates, and you've probably used them on vacation.
But are rest stops becoming a thing of the past?
That's the question viewers have been asking after seeing rest stops boarded up along Interstate 70 in Missouri.
We went to the Missouri Department of Transportation to find out if budget woes are forcing rest areas to close up shop.
But first we stopped by a couple of rest areas to talk to people who use them. Betty Levy of St. Louis told us, " I stop every opportunity I can at a rest stop".
They're convenient for travelers, a necessity for truckers, and integral part of America's interstate system.
Megan Moore, from North Carolina, was stopped at the Wright City rest area, "I stop at rest stops because I don't want to have to go into a commercial establishment".
Besides being a free place to use the restroom and let your kids and dogs run around, commercial truckers said they need the rest areas to take mandated breaks after long hours of driving.
"It's just a money thing is all it is...Missouri is not one of the bad ones but a lot of other states are closing most of them down." said Tommy Scivally, a semi driver from Alabama.
But with state budgets tight, we asked MoDOT if boarded up rest areas along Interstate 70 will become a common sight.
MoDOT's Kim Tipton said, "There are maybe one or two that might be closed in the future, but just like one we recently closed, it has more to do with the spacing of them".
MODOT said its all a big misunderstanding. Motorists got worried when four rest areas along I-70 were closed for repairs at the same time last month.
As for the rest area at Mineola in Montgomery County, MoDOT plans to demolish it within a couple of months to make room for more truck parking, but it will have scaled-down facilities.
MoDOT said the Mineola rest area was old and just too close to the Warren County rest areas which were just upgraded.
The only other rest stop MoDOT would confirm as being on the chopping block, is the one near Rockport, which will also be turned into truck parking because of it proximity to a new welcome center.
Even with all the news about MoDOT's budget problems, MoDOT said a lack of money is not the reason for closing the rest areas.
Tipton said, "no, the budgets for the operations of them are handled in each of the districts that they fall in, at this time we are not closing them based off of any reason for that".
MoDOT says it will continue to add more truck parking to its new visitor centers and rest areas.
MoDOT and truck drivers agree, it's not safe for semis to park on entrance and exit ramps and its sometimes hard to park at less traveled exits.
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