NATSO, the trade association representing travel plazas and truckstops is preparing to battle a Bush administration plan to commercialize rest areas around the country.

According to an advance copy of the administration's proposed highway reauthorization bill obtained by NATSO, the legislation would allow states to conduct rest area commercialization pilot projects, which NATSO claims would result in the closure of many interchange-based businesses. These include truckstops and travel plazas, restaurants, motels, gas stations and convenience stores.
NATSO President & CEO William D. Fay condemned the proposal, saying, "NATSO will fight against this anti-business, anti-trucking, anti-community provision and lead a coalition campaign to ensure its defeat."
Fay said the plan will close down many of the established businesses on the Interstate Highway System and will, devastate business owners who have invested in communities throughout the U.S.
In 1997, University of Maryland researchers documented that interchange businesses would lose between 60-70% of sales if interstate commercialization were to occur, Fay said. Instead of choosing to stop at an interchange business, most motorists opt instead to use the commercialized rest area on the shoulder of the road. While the state might make more money, the tax base of local governments would shrink.
Of particular interest to truckers is a provision advanced by the administration that commercialized rest areas would increase the number of parking spaces available for heavy duty trucks.
But Fay said the proposal would actually have the opposite effect.
"Rest area commercialization will actually decrease -- not increase -- the number of available parking spaces," he said. "Truckstops and travel plazas at the interchanges provide 90% of this nation's truck parking. Rest area commercialization will close down many of these businesses, which in turn would create a severe truck parking shortage."
"When the Interstate Highway System was created in 1956, community leaders feared that local businesses, jobs, and their tax base would dry up as motorists and truckers bypassed their cities and towns. In response, Congress banned development on the interstates themselves. Forty-seven years later, we can see the wisdom of that decision to protect communities. More than 60,000 businesses have sprung up at interchanges across America, serving the needs of highway users and providing jobs and taxes for counties, cities, and towns," Fay said.
"This proposal is particularly ill-conceived at a time when lawmakers are seeking ways to stimulate business growth and development to help our economy," he added.
The full text of the pro-commercialization provision is available on www.travelplaza.org.