Interchange businesses such as truckstops, restaurants, gas stations and hotels that depend on highway traffic could suffer a 50% loss in sales if a long-standing federal ban on rest area commercialization is lifted,
according to a University of Maryland study due to be released this week.
Although Congress specifically prohibited commercial services on the Interstate right-of-way, it permitted such services to be offered in rest areas constructed by Jan. 1, 1960.
As a result, 66 counties currently have commercialized Interstate facilities, which significantly dominate the market because of their location on the highway right-of-way, according to NATSO, a national trade association representing travel plaza and truckstop owners and operators..
The study says that, on average, these counties have experienced:
-- A loss of $22.5 million, or 56%, in food establishment annual sales per county. This is equivalent to eliminating 26 fast food establishments in each county.
-- A loss of $17.2 million, or 51%, in gasoline station annual sales per county. This is equivalent to eliminating seven gasoline stations in each county.
-- A loss of $16.1 million, or 46%, reduction in truck service facilities annual sales per county. This is equivalent to eliminating two truck fuel stops in each county.
In all cases, along with the reduction in sales, there are fewer interchange employees and a drop in local tax receipts.
During this year's federal transportation reauthorization, the Federal Highway Administration and some states are calling on Congress to lift the federal prohibition on rest area commercialization, which has been in existence since 1956.
"The Federal Highway Administration's recommendation to commercialize interstate rest areas would virtually devastate over 76,000 businesses that employ two million people at our nation's interchanges," said NATSO Foundation President William D. Fay. "In a time of economic uncertainty, taking an action that would result in such desolation is simply preposterous."
The study, Fueling American Prosperity: How Rest Area Commercialization Will Devastate the Economic Contributions of Interstate Business, claims that interchange businesses contribute billions of dollars to the United States economy. In 2002, highway service facilities accounted for $171 billion in annual sales; employed between 1.6 and 1.9 million full- and part-time workers, earning $30 billion in wages; collected $10.6 billion in state fuel taxes, $3.9 billion in state and local lodging taxes and $1.5 billion in property taxes; and purchased $93 billion in goods and services.
"The businesses that exist on our nation's interchanges serve the needs of highway users and provide jobs and taxes for counties, cities and towns," Fay said.
Unimpeded by rest area commercialization, these highway service facilities are expected to continuing growing through 2010, generating $196 billion in sales; employing 2.2 million full- and part-time workers; collecting $12.1 billion in state fuel taxes, $4.5 billion in state and local lodging taxes and $1.8 billion in property taxes; and purchasing $106 billion in goods and services.
A copy of the study can be obtained by contacting Sharon Corigliano, executive director of The NATSO Foundation at (888) 275-6287 or e-mailing foundation@natso.com.