Drive around this nation enough and you end up requiring a rest stop while traversing the interstate system. Easy off, easy back on the road after stretching one’s legs.
Returning from a long trip last year, the urge to make a pit stop along northbound I-57 led to pulling into Rest Area 14, aka Prairie View rest stop, which is overseen by the Illinois Department of Transportation. IDOT is in charge of the state’s 30 rest areas and 11 welcome centers.
It was a mess, especially compared to ones in Southern states and others along I-57 in downstate Illinois. Broken concrete greeted motorists as they speed-walked over the uneven sidewalks to the restrooms. Grass around the building was unmowed. The bathrooms, while clean, needed an immediate makeover by those HGTV house flippers. Or a good demolitions expert.
Needless to say, I was unimpressed by our state’s interstate rest stop offering. Considering Illinois has the third-largest interstate system and the fourth-largest highway system, we should present more of a welcoming face to what IDOT says are the 36 million visitors annually who visit rest stops in the Land of Lincoln.
I blamed Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democrats in what has become the continuing budget war as the reason that rest area was just plain lousy. Poor Illinois, no money to fix a lowly rest stop.
Stopping last weekend after a quick downstate jaunt, I can report seeing essentially the same problems at Prairie View, at Mile Marker 332, near Monee, 27 miles north of Kankakee. The grass was mowed this time around and orange safety cones over the concrete were on hand, warning motorists hurrying to the facilities to watch their step.
But friendly and helpful state workers manning the indoor kiosk said plans to update the bathrooms, fix the crumbling sidewalks and a total overhaul of the rest area are in the works. IDOT is even going to plant native prairie grasses as a homage to the vegetation which once covered most of the Prairie State.
If heading northbound on I-57 in the coming months, plan your rest stops accordingly. The Prairie View rest stop — not to be confused with unincorporated Prairie View in Vernon Township — is slated to be closed for four to six months, beginning in July. During construction, workers will either be laid off or redeployed to other locations. One of them was looking forward to a summer respite to survey the other magnificent miles of Illinois.
I issue this warning considering that, according to federal highway policy, there is supposed to be a place to take a break — state rest areas, truck stops, regular exits — every half-hour or so of interstate driving. That’s the way it’s been since 1958, after the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 began our immense and accessible interstate highway system.
Then, rest stops were encouraged for drivers to take breaks because most of the interstate system went through rural and desolate areas without services. I’ve used rest areas in most of the lower 48 states and can report that some of the best are in Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
For example, some Florida rest areas sport vehicle-activated windshield washers for passenger cars and big rigs. Picnic areas are plentiful in Tennessee, with rocking chairs available to watch the interstate traffic go past if you’re not in big hurry to go anywhere.
Which is one reason for using a rest stop, even if it is falling apart.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
Twitter @sellenews
