I don’t know if it’s like this in other states, but in Michigan, the rest areas are always on one side of the freeway or the other. I was thinking, wouldn’t it be more efficient to put them in the median on the highway? That way traffic going bother diections could use the same one, instead of having to have two seperate resta areas for each direction.
There are a few places where different highway departments have done just that.
However, it means that slow traffic exiting and entering will have to drive in the left-hand (high speed) lanes in order to get where they are going. That is not a good plan for safety–both in terms of the variance in speeds and in terms of where people expect exits and entrances to occur.
In addition, at the height of summer vacation traffic and around holidays, the rest areas fill up as it is. To handle the increased load (both for parking and for sanitary facilities) you would need to build extra large sites that would take up as much room as the current sites do, anyway.
I can just see some sleepy driver now leaving the rest area…headlights in his eyes as he gets back on the interstate. hmmmm… maybe not so good after all
ya ever notice that many of the white reflectors on the hiways(one-way) and ramps are red on the back. and every time you see a blue reflector there’s a fire hydrant on that side of the street.
Most places that have rest stops in the median are on toll ways. Or whatever they’re called. They usually seem to be much more then rest stops with restaurants, gas stations and fast food places. The one I remember most is one in Oklahoma, heading north out of Paris, TX. It had really really long in-ramps and out-ramps to allow all the semis to gain enough speed to merge safely. I imagine some slower vehicles still had difficulty.
I’ve seen some “service areas” like Osiris described on the freeway between Philadelphia and Baltimore.
In Washington, they’re all on the side of the road, and they never offer more than bathrooms, drinking fountains, soda machines, and maybe coffee. But we don’t have toll booths either.
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- There’s a few rest stops in the median across Missouri. The main advantage I could see is that people from both directions could use the same facility, so you’d only need to build one. The ones I mentioned are totally separate by something like a half-mile though, so I don’t know why they thought it was such a good idea.
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- There’s a few rest stops in the median across Missouri. The main advantage I could see is that people from both directions could use the same facility, so you’d only need to build one. The ones I mentioned are totally separate by something like a half-mile though, so I don’t know why they thought it was such a good idea.
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On the Illinois Tollways they have “Oases”.
They are directly OVER the road, built on overpasses. Entrances and exits are ramps on the right side of the road. Everybody shares a single restaurant, usually a McDs or Wendys, and restrooms. But since drivers cannot drive across them, everything for cars (gas stations, parking lots) is duplicated on both sides.
A rather odd compromise, but it works pretty well.
The left-hand exit/entrance is the largest factor against the idea, especially when you consider that 18-wheelers may be leaving a median rest stop and trying to merge onto the left (fast) lane. It may take an 18-wheeler a mile or so to accelerate up to highway speed, so you have a choice:
[ul][li]Build a mile-long exit ramp, or[/li][li]Cross your fingers.[/li][/ul]
Consider the cost of building two mile-long ramps (because you’ll need them in both directions, of course) versus building a single overpass or underpass if you really want your rest stop to be usable by traffic in both directions.
I believe the truck factor is the biggest reason. Take a look the next time you stop in a rest area. Even if it doesn’t have a dozen or so semis, you’ll see the area designated for trucks. You sure don’t want little kids running off steam zigzagging thru the semi parking area.
Think about it: suppose you are cruising the fast lane, and a fully-loaded semi pulls out in front of you from a median rest area…
Not a pretty sight.
~VOW
The single rest stop in the median is indeed cheaper, regardless of ramp length. If you’ve ever driven by one of them, you know that if you see a semi that hasn’t quite gotten up to speed merging into your lane, you and your Honda Civic get the hell over. It’s not that big of a deal, and unless you’re a jerk it doesn’t even make you upset. Also, the medians are large with trees in the middle, so if you’re getting back on the freeway there’s no way to have “headlights in your eyes.”
In addition to cost advantages, a shared rest stop is easier to patrol, and thus safer.
There’s a federal law that makes it illegal for Interstate rest stops to offer gas stations, restaurants, and so on. This was a concession that was made in the early days of Intersate highway planning, to alleviate concerns that traveller-related service businesses in bypassed towns couldn’t compete with those located in Interstate rest stops.
Pre-Interstate era toll roads are exampt from the ban. Most are toll roads, where an easy-off-easy-on isn’t as convenient as on the free Interstates. The New York State Thruway (I-90) provides a good example; outside of Buffalo, where I-90 forms part of that city’s beltway, exists on the Thruway are about 30 to 40 km apart. Most are awkward “trumpet interchanges,” with lots of curves, twists and turns required to funnel all traffic into a central toll booth. It’s a pain in the butt to get off and on the Thruway in rural Upstate New York.
This can be true. However, traffic is not always light by every rest area. Trying to stuff an accelerating-but-not-up-to-speed semi into the left lane of a highway with three lanes in each direction when cars are already bumber-to-bumper at 70+ mph is simply not a good idea.
And the cost savings for such areas would be minimal. As noted, in higher density regions, the lots fill up at least once or twice a day, so you would need to build facilities twice as large to handle the traffic. No savings and more danger. The current plan works OK.
There is one in Falfurrias, Texas. You enter from the left side and the rest area is protected and divived by concrete partitions. The rest area has real nice restrooms, park, and vending machines. I haven’t seen another one like this. Maybe, as it has been mentioned before, the right lane is for slower traffic and left faster and/or passing traffic. Therefore, the one in Falfurrias you have to be careful how you re-enter the highway as the lane you enter the vehicles are coming faster.
XicanoreX
The only problems I’ve ever seen with traffic trying to re-enter the roadway from a rest stop was on the Penna Turnpike, and that was because the entrance ramps were ridiculously short because of construction. Those rest stops, by the way, were the traditional re-enter on the right. I question those who question it because it works pretty well, if you’ve actually encountered them. But, as elmwood pointed out, it appears to be a moot point (apologies to Cecil) since they can’t start building them that way anymore.
If you’re concerned about the typo, I apologize.
If you’re concerned about the traffic, I can assure you that Michigan and a number of Western states have 70 mph and 75 mph speed limits and that traffic does not tend to slow down just because there is more of it.
Gotcha. It was just painting an odd mental picture. FWIW, in those situations, people slow down for the re-entering semi, althought usually they do a pretty good job of getting up to speed. I suppose that can be viewed as negative, depending on your attitude towards traffic.
Empirical data dropping in. When I drive to Austin I pass two rest stops that are between the traffic lanes, one on I-10 near Brookshire and one on Texas 71 between Smithville and Bastrop. Over the years I’ve stopped at both, but unless I’ve got something close to an emergency need to stop, I avoid them precisely because the requisite hell-for-leather drag race to reenter traffic without getting run over just isn’t worth it.
First of all, how a big a rest stop are we talking about? One of those for sleeping truckers, RVs and cars that stretch for 1/2 a mile? Maybe a tiny, unfrequented rest stop is cheaper in the median, but if one has to provide 10 toilets, 5 picnic tables, 100 parking spaces it can’t make much difference whether it’s split into two pieces.
Another factor argues that in the long run (do freeway designers ever think that far out?) median rest stops are more expensive: if a parallel road has to be diverted to make room for a rest stop, in the future when either the rest stop or the freeway needs to be substantially altered – they may both have to be. A median on the roadside that is disused? Let the grass grow and forget it. Build somewhere else. The freeway stays basically the same.
A median rest stop is easier to patrol because there’s one, instead of two? Maybe. But the rest stops I’ve been at only have very limited police cover, anyhow.
I’m from California, and I’m a bit ashamed to admit I don’t understand this discussion. What exactly do you all mean by “rest stop”? Is this some kind of official thing where a few stores are built by the side (or in the middle ) of a highway in the middle of nowhere? In my limited driving experience, gas stations and restaurants are always located in towns, often near an overpass or underpass to cross the freeway. I can imagine how in less densely-populated areas towns might be too far apart for this to work; is this why rest stops are built?