There are several “rest areas” in the Southwest or Texas that are like full-blown “Rest stops” on the Interstate Highway System, with bathrooms and everything, yet are not on a limited-access highway. 287 in Texas between Amarillo and Dallas has a few; there is one on 89 in Utah north of Glendale; and there used to be one in Boulder City, CO near Hoover Dam, but according to Google Maps it has either closed or been rebranded a Tourist Information Center.
What I am not aware of is any of these east of Texas. All of them that I know of either:
– Lack facilities (typically being called “Parking Areas”)
– Are designated as rest stops for limited access highways, despite technically having to drive on surface roads for a few hundred feet to get there, or
– Are not called Rest Stops or Rest Areas. There is one almost at the very eastern end of Highway 50 which stretches from Sacramento to Ocean City MD, and I went in there partly to use the restroom and partly to actually get tourist information. It is designated as a chamber of commerce tourist information center.
Anyone know of any of these further east? I’d also be interested in ones that are not in the Eastern US, although ones that are not in America at all would be less interesting unless they also have bathrooms and maybe picnic tables but not gas or full blown restaurants.
This site lists all of the Rest Areas administered by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Most are, indeed, on the Interstates, but a handful (#23 and #33/34 in the northwestern part of the state, #103 in the far northern part of the state, and #106 in the far southwestern corner of the state) are located on state or U.S. highways, which aren’t, as far as I know, limited-access highways.
The state’s rest areas usually have restrooms, vending machines, picnic areas, and dog-walking areas. They don’t feature any sort of “retail” services, other than the vending machines (i.e., no gas stations, restaurants, convenience stores).
@kenobi_65 , that’s a good looking and informative website. Most state pages are clunky to use which is probably why I didn’t think of doing a web search.
@engineer_comp_geek , that reminds me that there is another I missed, which is also on 15 just south of the NYS border in Tioga. I mistakenly remembered I-99 stretching into PA for a bit instead of being 15 all the way through.
Are you excluding “limited access highways”, or “Interstates”? There are some limited access highways that aren’t technically part of the Interstate Highway System.
The less limited the access the better, but it’s a gradient rather than a cutoff. For instance, the aforementioned highway 15 in PA is sort of in between, with an at-grade crossroad every mile or two, but arranged so that the chances of accidents will be minimized by forcing people to merge and turn a certain way. I think the northern part would arguably be limited-access because of the sparseness of the crossroads, but stops being limited-access the closer you get to Harrisburg because number of crossroads and towns that you go through increases.
It’s limited access all the way from Williamsport to the NY border & there are even signs stating it’s future I-99. If you’re talking about the one overlooking the Tioga Reservoir on the SB side it absolutely is an interstate-worthy limited access road.
There is one on Rt 2 in Alburgh NY as a ‘welcome center’ on an island on Lake Champlain near the Canadian boarder. This road mainly serves as the only non-ferry crossing of the lake from VT to NY on the northern end.
How are we defining “limited access”? From the OP’s context, I thought it was referring to the road being a toll road, which the Merritt is not. It’s no-commercial-vehicles, though (blessedly), so if that’s the definition you’re working with then yeah.
I take it to mean that its a 4 lane highway that other minor roads do not cross, that they have exit ramps like an interstate highway does.
This one on State Route 33 outside of St Marys Ohio is a full rest area on a 4 lane highway that county roads cross. That is my understanding of the OP. It is a non- limited access highway with a rest area.
Ah, because then there would be a need for dedicated rest areas that wouldn’t just be roadside diners or whatever, got it. Yeah, then the Merritt is about as limited-access as you can get, even the police don’t have anywhere to park!
(One of the reasons my Merritt commute was the second-fastest I’ve ever driven an automobile, and the fastest average speed of any route I’ve ever driven. Top speed was only edged out by I-90 approaching Boston, when I ended up in the middle of left-lane traffic that was doing a comfortable 106 MPH. (!) )
The above appears as an active link, and clicking on it returns an error message. ANYSTATE has to be replaced with a state name, so to find my state has only 3 rest areas on Interstates (1 of seems to always be closed) I use the link RHODEISLANDrestareas.com.
New Hampshire used to have at least one more. I remember we used to stop at one on our frequent trips between Nashua and Dover around 1980 when I was about 10. I thought it was so strange to have a rest area on a two-lane road, which is why it sticks in my mind. I thought it was this one on Route 202 in Northwood. But that’s not on the route between Nashua and Dover, so there may have been yet another. Somewhere around Derry, maybe.
