A coalition including retailers, restaurateurs, city governments and the National Association of Truck Stop Operators (NATSO) recently sent a letter to Congressional leaders asking them to oppose the commercialization of rest stops.
The Trump Administration has proposed allowing the sale of food, fuel and other goods at Interstate rest areas. The coalition said this would adversely harm communities that depend on traffic from Interstate drivers. It also would give states direct access to customers, creating an unfair competitive advantage, the coalition said.
In rural communities, businesses located off the Interstate often are the area’s largest taxpayers. These businesses annually contribute $22.5 billion in local and state taxes.
Merchants who service rest stop vending machines also would be adversely affected. Many of these merchants are blind and protected under the Randolph-Sheppard Act, a law supporting entrepreneurial opportunities for the blind.
“Congress effectively privatized highway services in 1960, when Congress prohibited states from offering commercial services at rest areas along the Interstate Highway System specifically so that private sector entities would grow and provide services to the traveling public,” NATSO President and CEO Lisa Mullings said. “Commercializing Interstate rest areas would create far more problems than it will solve.”
The letter also was sent to Congressional transportation committees.