The Arizona Department of Transportation continues to reopen highway rest areas that were temporarily closed, including three this week.

Sacaton along Interstate 10, southbound Canoa Ranch along I-19 and Ehrenberg on I-10 are now open for travelers.

The northbound side of Canoa Ranch will open later this week, in addition to Meteor Crater along I-40 and San Simon along I-10, as repairs and maintenance issues are finalized. By July 31, five previously closed rest areas will again be in operation. Four more rest areas are expected to reopen this fall.

Last fall, ADOT announced plans to temporarily close 13 highway rest areas as part of efforts to address a $100 million budget shortfall. The state is reopening them due to a stabilizing financial situation.

Four additional rest areas - Mazatzal (SR 87), Mohawk (I-8), Parks (I-40) and Salt River Canyon (U.S. 60) - will remain closed due to serious repair issues.

Each year, Arizona spends about $320,000 per rest area for maintenance, electricity and water services. Funding for these facilities comes from the State Highway Fund, which is comprised of revenue from the state fuel tax and vehicle license tax.

Rest areas are required to be funded from the same ADOT budget source as public safety services, such as snow removal, roadway maintenance and highway crash response. Arizona is pushing for reform at the federal level to change how rest areas are funded nationally.

"We still need long-term, sustainable solutions to pay for rest areas and will pursue changes in federal law to allow Arizona to find partnerships and private investment in rest areas to make good use of the limited highway maintenance funds we have," said John Halikowski, ADOT director.

Only states with rest areas in operation before passage of the 1956 Interstate Highway Act are eligible to privatize, outsource or engage in public-private partnerships for rest areas. Arizona has none of those options.