# How do highway rest stop employees get to work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204 "2010-03-21T04:03:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pessor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pessor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pessor)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/1 "2010-03-21T04:03:08Z")
Well terrific… they use automobiles. But is there some “backdoor access” for the guys that sell fries and girls that pump gas if they live less than a mile from the place, or do they need to jump onto the Massachusetts Turnpike and travel 11 miles, do a U-turn off an exit, then drive to work only to do the same thing at the end of their shift? Unemployed and very curoius, MA. Pessor ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/2 "2010-03-21T05:14:20Z")
There are [service](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=ludlow,+ma&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Ludlow,+Hampden,+Massachusetts&ll=42.297278,-73.274989&spn=0.007777,0.012059&t=h&z=16) [roads](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=ludlow,+ma&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Ludlow,+Hampden,+Massachusetts&t=h&ll=42.194641,-72.933791&spn=0.003895,0.00603&z=17). ---
**Author:** ![Terry\_Kennedy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@Terry\_Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terry_Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/3 "2010-03-21T09:15:00Z")
> [@Pessor](#): > > Well terrific… they use automobiles. But is there some “backdoor access” for the guys that sell fries and girls that pump gas if they live less than a mile from the place, or do they need to jump onto the Massachusetts Turnpike and travel 11 miles, do a U-turn off an exit, then drive to work only to do the same thing at the end of their shift? If you look at [this Google Maps](http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=107951823413838711935.00046c784487c82c7419e&ll=40.059097,-78.081937&spn=0.004443,0.008454&t=h&z=17) page, you’ll see the employee access for the Sideling Hill rest area on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (Mountain House Rd.) If you zoom in, you’ll see that the employee parking area there is fenced off from the public areas of the Turnpike, so people can’t sneak on / off without paying. ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/4 "2010-03-21T15:07:58Z")
There’s a Burger King on the Pennsylvania Turnpike that I occasionally frequent (legally) without getting on the Turnpike. I take the service road to a parking lot that the employees use and walk into the Burger King from there. There’s a cyclone fence between that parking lot and the regular one with a walk-through opening. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/5 "2010-03-21T18:26:12Z")
> [@Terry\_Kennedy](#): > > If you look at [this Google Maps](http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=107951823413838711935.00046c784487c82c7419e&ll=40.059097,-78.081937&spn=0.004443,0.008454&t=h&z=17) page, you’ll see the employee access for the Sideling Hill rest area on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (Mountain House Rd.) If you zoom in, you’ll see that the employee parking area there is fenced off from the public areas of the Turnpike, so people can’t sneak on / off without paying. Apropos of nothing, one of the more interesting little-known tourist attractions is within shouting distance of the Sideling Hill service plaza. In the early 1960s the Turnpike Commission took steps to remedy the backups that occurred at the tunnels, which were single-tubes with two-way traffic at that time. They doubled all the tunnels except for 3, which were bypassed. If you go south on that map you’ll find something labeled the Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike. Starting at Breezewood and ending at the westbound lanes just past the Sideling Hill rest stop, there is a 13-mile stretch of road that is available for hiking and biking, with two of the abandoned tunnels along its length (Sideling Hill and Rays Hill). Sideling Hill service plaza was built to replace Cove Valley, which no longer exists although the parking area is still along the abandoned roadway. Like I said, apropos of nothing. Still, the history of the Turnpike is actually quite fascinating, and as a roadgeek I never miss the chance to interest others in the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/6 "2010-03-21T19:26:30Z")
So I scrolled around a bit, looking at the abandoned turnpike. Can anyone tell me what the heck is going on at Breezewood? I’d vaguely heard of it as a gap in the Intersatate, and I thought maybe they’d just never finished converting a stretch of arterial road to Interstate standard, and then it had accreted gas stations and stuff. Instead, you branch leftwards off the Turnpike onto another Interstate, start to follow the abandoned Turnpike route, hang a left off the abandoned route, turn left onto an arterial road, turn left again after a kilometre or so onto a new stretch of Interstate, pass under both the Interstate you arrived on _and_ the Turnpike you left in the dim mist of time, then continue south. Can you guys no longer afford right-hand exits, or what? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/7 "2010-03-21T19:48:34Z")
The Pennsylvania Turnpike does not have a direct connection to I-70 at Breezewood. It has concurrency from New Stanton to the Breezewood exit, but then you must go into Breezewood and travel the surface road for about a half-mile to continue. Bear in mind that the original Turnpike was much closer to Breezewood, so it wasn’t a big deal back then. but now it’s a tremendous hassle. You should see the traffic snarls there. And the businesses in Breezewood like it that way because they make serious money from it, so they resist any proposal to directly connect I-70 to the Turnpike. There’s another famous gap in the IHS- I-95 in New Jersey. Once again you have to travel some surface streets to continue. That was due to a political issue: the people successfully fought tooth-and-nail to kill off the planned Somerset Freeway, so it remains that way. However, they are taking steps to remedy the situation with a direct connection to the Turnpike near Philadelphia, bypassing the gap. It won’t be long until Jersey feels the pain from that. But hey, they did it to themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Pessor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pessor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pessor)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/8 "2010-03-22T07:13:23Z")
> [@sevenwood](#): > > There’s a Burger King on the Pennsylvania Turnpike that I occasionally frequent (legally) without getting on the Turnpike. I take the service road to a parking lot that the employees use and walk into the Burger King from there. There’s a cyclone fence between that parking lot and the regular one with a walk-through opening. Thank you **Sevenwood!** Sounds like it makes perfect sense. Question well answered. Peter Except now I want as Whopper 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/9 "2010-03-22T08:30:52Z")
Interesting info about the abandoned turnpike, **Airman**. If I’d known that when I lived there, I might have loaded up my bike and gone exploring. > [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > The Pennsylvania Turnpike does not have a direct connection to I-70 at Breezewood. It has concurrency from New Stanton to the Breezewood exit, but then you must go into Breezewood and travel the surface road for about a half-mile to continue. > > Bear in mind that the original Turnpike was much closer to Breezewood, so it wasn’t a big deal back then. but now it’s a tremendous hassle. You should see the traffic snarls there. And the businesses in Breezewood like it that way because they make serious money from it, so they resist any proposal to directly connect I-70 to the Turnpike. > > There’s another famous gap in the IHS- I-95 in New Jersey. Once again you have to travel some surface streets to continue. That was due to a political issue: the people successfully fought tooth-and-nail to kill off the planned Somerset Freeway, so it remains that way. However, they are taking steps to remedy the situation with a direct connection to the Turnpike near Philadelphia, bypassing the gap. It won’t be long until Jersey feels the pain from that. But hey, they did it to themselves. There’s a similar situation in Carlisle, PA. The Turnpike (I-76) crosses I-81, but there’s no interchange. You have to drive about a mile on surface streets to get from one to the other. I used to work at a business on that mile, across the street from a huge truckstop. Rumor was that the owner had enough political clout to stop an interchange and force all the truck traffic[sup]\*[/sup] to go past his business. Carlisle may be the trucking capital of the country. There are several huge trucking companies there. They repaved that mile while I was working there. To stand up to the trucks, they made it 14-inch-thick concrete. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/10 "2010-03-22T12:16:10Z")
I know. I live there. 🙂 Oh, and the reason why Breezewood is so famous is because that surface street is considered part of I-70, meaning that I-70 is the only Interstate with permanent traffic lights. ---
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/11 "2010-03-22T12:34:08Z")
> [@Pessor](#): > > Well terrific… they use automobiles. But is there some “backdoor access” for the guys that sell fries and girls that pump gas if they live less than a mile from the place, or do they need to jump onto the Massachusetts Turnpike and travel 11 miles, do a U-turn off an exit, then drive to work only to do the same thing at the end of their shift? > > Unemployed and very curoius, MA. > > Pessor The Natick stop on the MA-TPK has an unmarked entrance on Route 27 between Route 30 and Route 9. I use it when I go to the RMV (DMV) at that plaza. I assume all the other stops do as well. Employees use it. Delivery trucks use it. It has a gate one can walk through. There’s a locked vehicle gate, which I sometime see open. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/12 "2010-03-22T14:10:41Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > Apropos of nothing, one of the more interesting little-known tourist attractions is within shouting distance of the Sideling Hill service plaza. > > In the early 1960s the Turnpike Commission took steps to remedy the backups that occurred at the tunnels, which were single-tubes with two-way traffic at that time. They doubled all the tunnels except for 3, which were bypassed. If you go south on that map you’ll find something labeled the Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike. Starting at Breezewood and ending at the westbound lanes just past the Sideling Hill rest stop, there is a 13-mile stretch of road that is available for hiking and biking, with two of the abandoned tunnels along its length (Sideling Hill and Rays Hill). Sideling Hill service plaza was built to replace Cove Valley, which no longer exists although the parking area is still along the abandoned roadway. > > Like I said, apropos of nothing. Still, the history of the Turnpike is actually quite fascinating, and as a roadgeek I never miss the chance to interest others in the subject. The whole “abandoned highway/tunnels” thing is kind of creepy to me. I’ve seen pics of the area on several websites and it just evokes an apocalyptic feeling…Mad Max and such. Things just abandoned, unused. It’s fascinating and ooky-feeling at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/13 "2010-03-22T14:29:52Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > The whole “abandoned highway/tunnels” thing is kind of creepy to me. I’ve seen pics of the area on several websites and it just evokes an apocalyptic feeling…Mad Max and such. Things just abandoned, unused. It’s fascinating and ooky-feeling at the same time. Here’s some good oogie for you then, **jayjay** — [Cincinnati’s Abandoned Subway](http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/subway.html). ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/14 "2010-03-22T14:46:08Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Here’s some good oogie for you then, **jayjay** — [Cincinnati’s Abandoned Subway](http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/subway.html). That was a really interesting way to spend 15 minutes. Thank you, **Ellen**! ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/15 "2010-03-22T15:03:28Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > I know. I live there. 🙂 > > Oh, and the reason why Breezewood is so famous is because that surface street is considered part of I-70, meaning that I-70 is the only Interstate with permanent traffic lights. There are others: > **[List of gaps in Interstate Highways](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gaps_in_Interstate_Highways)** > > There are gaps in the Interstate Highway System where the roadway carrying an Interstate shield does not conform to the standards set by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the body that sets the regulations for the Interstate Highway System. For the most part, the Interstate Highway System in the United States is a connected system, with most freeways completed; however, some Interstates still have gaps. These gaps can be due to unconnected segments of the same route or from failure ... ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/16 "2010-03-22T15:42:35Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > The whole “abandoned highway/tunnels” thing is kind of creepy to me. I’ve seen pics of the area on several websites and it just evokes an apocalyptic feeling…Mad Max and such. Things just abandoned, unused. It’s fascinating and ooky-feeling at the same time. Apparently this was noticed by the producers of the film “The Road” as well, because at least one scene of the movie (seen in the trailer) was filmed at one of the abandoned Turnpike tunnels. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/17 "2010-03-22T16:03:08Z")
> [@Terry\_Kennedy](#): > > If you look at [this Google Maps](http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=107951823413838711935.00046c784487c82c7419e&ll=40.059097,-78.081937&spn=0.004443,0.008454&t=h&z=17) page, you’ll see the employee access for the Sideling Hill rest area on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (Mountain House Rd.) If you zoom in, you’ll see that the employee parking area there is fenced off from the public areas of the Turnpike, so people can’t sneak on / off without paying. You have to pay to use rest stops in Pennsylvania? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-highway-rest-stop-employees-get-to-work/533204/18 "2010-03-22T16:12:02Z")
No, you have to pay to get off the Turnpike. If someone can access an employee entrance with their car they can get off without paying the toll, so employees typically have to park on the other side of a barrier and walk through an access gate to keep people from sneaking out.