Press Release
BOLLING CALLS ON VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO KEEP REST STOPS OPEN
-Citing highway safety, tourism and jobs benefits, Bolling encourages VDOT to reprioritize budgeting and find cost saving to keep rest stops open-
Monday, July 20, 2009Richmond - Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling today called on the Virginia Department of Transportation to reconsider the proposed closure of eighteen Virginia rest stops and one Welcome Center. The rest stops are scheduled to be shut down on Tuesday, July 21.
In a letter to Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer, Bolling encouraged VDOT to find savings and reprioritizations in VDOT's $3.4B budget to find the $8.6M needed to keep the rest stops open in order to maintain the highest level of highway safety and convenience to motorists, support Virginia's tourism, hospitality and trucking industries and save over 200 Virginia jobs.
"I certainly understand that these are challenging economic times for VDOT and other state agencies," said Bolling. "However, I am concerned that the closure of these rest stops will eliminate safe, convenient opportunities for motorists to rest; make our highways more dangerous; damage Virginia's tourism and hospitality industry; put more than 200 Virginians out of work; and increase congestion on secondary roads and at gas stations and restaurants near highways."
According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Board, driver fatigue results in 100,000 accidents and 1,500 deaths a year in the United States. Studies show truck-driver fatigue could be a factor in up to 40 percent of truck crashes and night-time truck crashes increase when the distance between rest areas increases.
In addition to increasing highway safety, rest stops are key economic assets for Virginia. More than 200 people who maintain the rest stops will lose their jobs if the facilities close. Likewise, the tourism and hospitality industries will lose significant revenues from vending machines and the tourist-attraction brochure program if rest stops close.
"Clearly, rest stops are assets to Virginia's transportation system, not simply services, and they should be prioritized as such in our budgeting," said Bolling.
Bolling cited a June proposal by members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) to reprioritize $9M of a $120M increase in the FY2010 paving budget to keep the rest areas open. The proposal failed when Secretary Homer voted against the plan breaking a 6-6 tie at the CTB meeting on June 18, 2009.
"I support using $9M of the increased paving money to keep the rest stops open for another year," said Bolling. "This will allow more time for government leaders and industry stakeholders to find a permanent solution to keep the rest stops open."
"I understand the financial pressures that VDOT is trying to relieve, but this is not the right way to bring their budget into balance. Clearly closing the rest stops is not a financial necessity or in the best interest of Virginia," said Bolling.
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For additional information contact Randy Marcus at 804-814-7117 (cell) or randy.marcus@ltgov.virginia.gov.
