The New York Department of Transportation intends to rebuild a controversial rest area on the Long Island Expressway.

According to New York Newsday, the rest area near Exit 52 will include more parking, vending machines, phones, bathrooms, a police substation and round-the-clock security.
The police station and security are needed because the area was known as a place for illegal drug activity and a haven for homosexual activity.
The new Long Island Travel and Information Center will increase the parking area from 27 to nearly 200, 27 of those for trucks and RVs. Construction would not begin until at least 2005.
Local residents oppose the redesign because they are concerned about property values and because it will be within a half-mile of a middle school.
The current rest area is not much more than a quarter-mile stretch of pavement with a handful of pay telephones, portable toilets, and an old railroad car that is serving as a tourist information center.