Connecticut Rest Areas Being Examined

For those driving through Connecticut's highways, it will seem quite obvious that some of the numerous service plazas, rest areas, and welcome centers are not quite as modern as those found in other states.

For example, while many service plazas on I-95 only have a McDonald's, most service plazas on the Massachusetts Turnpike feature on average six or seven separate food outlets such as Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, Fresh City, Lavazza, Auntie Anne's pretzels, Papa Gino's, d'angelo's, and of course, McDonald's.

The State of New Jersey has very nice information areas with a desk and staff along with plenty of brochures of all the attractions throughout the state.

Of course, what was known as the "Connecticut Turnpike" essentially I-95 from the CT border to Waterford and then up I-395 to Plainfield and Route 695 from Plainfield to the R.I. border used to be a toll road but is no longer while most of the Massachusetts Turnpike is a toll road except for the western section where tolls have since been eliminated.

These centers are often used by tractor trailers for overnight parking and those driving along desperate for gasoline or a restroom at a location not far from the interstate but for the normal resident or visitor; they are not up to par with those found in neighboring states.

There are 23 service plazas, 8 rest areas, and 6 welcome centers scattered throughout Connecticut and are owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation and I believe they all should receive a makeover unless they recently experienced one in the past couple years.

I believe the best thing that can be done is to have electronic signage in these buildings with updates on road construction, road closures, possible delays in congested areas, and detours for motorists.

I believe there should be seating in these rest areas and service plazas that are welcoming for people to sit at to escape from congested traffic and plenty of room in the buildings to walk around.

The current service plazas and rest areas seem to have quite a bit of picnic tables and outside areas but more should be done to have areas inside providing a refuge for motorists escaping thunderstorms, hurricanes, or snow storms.

In addition to having framed state maps at each station, there should be more detailed maps of the area that rest area or service plaza is in.

Connecticut is in the process of reviewing all these areas to "confirm and evaluate alternatives to address the deficiency of truck parking at rest areas and service plazas, evaluate the operational and governance options, determine best practices for operation and maintenance of rest areas and service plazas based on the experiences of other states, confirm the optimum statewide location, services, and facilities needed for the greatest benefit to the traveling public, assist in developing rehabilitation plans for individual rest areas and service plazas, all of which have exceeded the useful life of the current facilities."

The DOT is working with a study team led by Earth Tech, Fitzgerald and Halliday, ICON, UIC, and The Williams Group to conduct an ongoing study by working with planning agencies, municipalities, representatives from the tourism, commercial
truck and bus industry, and surveyed current visitors to rest areas and service plazas.

Those visiting service plazas have been surveyed and asked why they stopped, how their needs were being met, and what additional services they would like to see added.

The study started summer 2005 is expected to end by the end of 2006 and will involve at looking at all aspects of rest areas including tractor trailer parking, safety, environmental concerns, improving existing facilities, looking at integrating tourist information in current service plazas, potential for increased revenue, and include privatization of services to enhance revenue opportunities.

Providing adequate tractor trailer parking is necessary to prevent tractor trailers from being forced to park on the sides of on and off ramps to state police barracks (i.e.: Westbrook, Montville) and of rest areas as well as service plazas.

A rest area is defined as a place which provides restrooms, parking, pay phones, and many rest areas have vending machines, picnic and pet walking areas, and other features such as informational pamphlets about nearby sites of interest.

Rest areas in Connecticut are located on Interstate 84 Eastbound past exit 2 in Danbury, I-84 Eastbound past exit 28 in Southington, I-84 Eastbound past exit 69 in West Willington, and I-84 Westbound past exit 70 in West Willington.

Other rest areas are located on Interstate 91 Southbound past exit 15 in Wallingford, I-91 Northbound past exit 19 in Middletown and I-95 Southbound in North Stonington past exit 93.

These rest areas typically have wooden structures resembling a house with wooden picnic tables and are quite small with most of the building designated for restrooms.

A service plaza has many features of a rest area in addition to food service and fuel and a convenience store or retail carts.
They are generally on toll roads or former toll roads and Connecticut has no toll roads at this time although there are proposals for some at state borders for interstate highways.

Current federal funding regulations prohibit the creation of additional service plazas with commercial food and fuel services can be built. This is to prohibit competition with off-road private commercial facilities.

However, existing "grandfathered" facilities can be improved and expanded and additional rest areas and welcome centers can be built as needed.

Service plazas in Connecticut with fuel are located on Interstate 395 southbound past exit 79A in Montville, I-395 southbound past exit 90 in Plainfield, and I-395 northbound past exit 89 in Plainfield.

Other service stations with fuel are located on Wilbur Cross Parkway Route 15 Northbound at North Haven past exit 63 and Southbound past exit 64.

Merritt Parkway Route 15 service stations with fuel are located Northbound past exit 55 in Orange, Southbound past exit 56 in Orange, Northbound past exit 45 in Fairfield, Southbound past exit 46 in Fairfield, Northbound past exit 37 in New Canaan, Southbound past exit 38 in New Canaan, and Southbound past exit 27 in Greenwich.

These fuel service stations have Mobil gas and diesel and have MobilMart convenience stores.

Service plazas with McDonald's restaurants are located on Interstate 95 Northbound in Darien past exit 12, I-95 Southbound
in Darien past exit 10, I-95 Northbound in Fairfield past exit 21, I-95 Southbound past 22, I-95 Northbound in Milford past exit 40, I-95 Southbound in Milford past exit 41, I-95 Northbound in Branford past exit 53, I-95 Southbound in Branford past exit 54, I-95 Northbound in Madison past exit 61, and I-95 Southbound in Madison past exit 62.

Some of these service plazas have recently been upgraded to include newly renovated gift shops and food services such as Sandella's, Lavazza, and Ella's Pizza.

These gift shops tend to be fairly clean and nice and sell items with "Connecticut" such as mugs, pencils, and other knickknacks along with merchandise with "Connecticut Huskies", "UCONN", "New York Yankees", or "Boston Red Sox."

These shops also typically have small snacks, an assortment of beverages, and over the counter medications similar to what are sold in most convenience stores.

Information and visitor centers are located near state boundaries and are generally part of a rest area or service plaza.
They provide pamphlets about attractions in the area along with maps and are usually staffed seasonally and some on weekends off season to answer visitor questions.

These centers are located on Interstate 95 Southbound past exit 93 in Stonington, Interstate 84 Westbound past exit 70 in Willington, Merritt Parkway Route 15 Northbound past exit 27 in Greenwich, Interstate 84 Northbound past exit 2 in Danbury, Interstate 95 Northbound past exit 65 in Westbrook, and Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Terminal A Lower Level.

The Northeast Connecticut Council of Governments has supported the creation of a visitor center for those entering Connecticut on I-395 from Massachusetts.

For such a visitor center to serve its intended purpose, it must be determined the number of people using I-395 to a sole destination and not interested in other destinations such as those going to Mohegan Sun or Foxwoods.

I strongly believe the cost of having literature at service plazas should be low enough so museums and attractions can advertise affordably.

Racks used to exist at the service plaza at I-395 in Plainfield but businesses in northeastern Connecticut had a hard time paying for having their flyers displayed in these racks.

A lack of advertisers led to the racks being removed and "Visitor Info" being removed from the blue Service Plaza signs for the Plainfield service plaza.

Places like Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun will always have the money to advertise in these racks but rates should be lowered and preference should be made to small businesses with low amounts of employees because I have seen already how Mohegan Sun or Foxwoods may rent out three, four, or sometimes as many as five slots on the rack.

Having presentable service plazas, rest areas, and visitor information centers is detrimental to a state reliant on its tourist industry but such areas can service the needs of regular travelers as well if they are updated with the latest technology.

With expanded parking lots could serve as "Park and Ride" areas allowing workers to park there and get a ride from a co-worker, bus, or van to their place of work.