INDIANAPOLIS — You often stop to stretch your legs or go to the bathroom on long road trips.
Jeff and Donna Eaton, who live in Indianapolis, need rest areas a lot. During the summer, they go from Indianapolis to Brookville every weekend.
At a rest stop in Greenfield, Jeff Eaton said, “We count on [the rest stop] to have a place to let the dogs out and take care of any other needs we have.” “It’s very important to us.” On the way down, we look forward to it, and the dogs would be mad if we didn’t stop.
On their way to work, they stop at the Greenfield rest stop every weekend. They do say, though, that not every rest stop in the state is the same.
“Some rest stops aren’t as good, and many don’t work,” Donna Eaton said. “Everything else is dirty and the faucets don’t work, but this one has been kept clean.”
That’s why, over the next 10 years, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) will spend $600 million on rest stops, welcome centers, and places to park trucks.
Currently, INDOT runs 26 rest areas or welcome centers on roads. Twenty sites will be fixed up, and four will be shut down.
With these changes, INDOT says it will be able to park 82% more trucks, which means there will be 1,149 more spots.
Nicole Garrett from INDOT said, “If you travel on the interstate very early in the morning or very late at night, you will see trucks parked on those ramps.” “That is dangerous for both travelers and those drivers.”
A lot of these facilities will have a theme that shows off the history of the place where they are located.
The building shown below is in Kankakee and was finished in October of last year.
“At that location, the roof has a rolling appearance like the dunes,” he said.
WRTV talked to travelers who said these improvements are important. However, one truck driver would rather see INDOT fix the roads.
Source: WRTV
