Showing their age: Our rest areas are old and highlight the need for additional highway preservation investments

By: Tina Werner

You’ve likely visited at least one of Washington’s 47 safety rest areas in your lifetime – and some of you may be regular users during your statewide travels.

Maybe you visited the eastbound State Route 8 Elma rest area on your way home from Ocean Shores. Maybe you visited one of the Interstate 90 Winchester rest areas near Moses Lake heading to the Gorge. Maybe you were looking for a spot for your furry friend to stretch their four legs.

The SR 17 Blue Lake rest area near Coulee City offers restrooms, drinking fountains and a picnic area.

Regardless of your destination, our safety rest areas provide a valuable service to the 24 million people who use them each year. Rest areas help improve safety by giving the traveling public, commuters and freight haulers a place to stop and rest for a short period of time. This reduces drowsy driving. They also serve communities throughout the state by supporting the flow of goods and services, tourism and recreation.

But unfortunately, our rest areas are outdated and failing. On average, sites are around 47 years old, with construction dates varying from 1967-2011. If they were people, many would be planning for retirement by now. And, just like people with creaky knees, our rest areas are showing their years of wear and tear.

Recent I-82 Selah and I-90 Sprague closures – and creative solutions

This spring, during a routine inspection of the lagoon-style septic systems, crews discovered tears in the liners at two locations. The liners prevent untreated wastewater from seeping into the ground. The I-82 Selah rest area is 51 years old. The I-90 Sprague rest areas is 55. They are both almost eligible for senior discounts. At our Sprague location, the liner has failed before. This means there are recurring issues to our aging lagoon system. For environmental and safety concerns, the restroom facilities and the RV dump stations at both rest areas were temporarily closed. Portable toilets were provided.

Initial estimates for repairs were $2.2 million for Selah and $3.4 million for Sprague. We don’t have the funds to fully repair these locations within our existing operational budget. The funds aren’t available to us as facility improvement projects either. So, we had to get creative. Just like the problem-solving tv show, our planned fixes are “MacGyvered” worked arounds – not full solutions.

Throughout the summer months, contractor crews will remove and dispose of the damaged liners and install new ones.

It’s good news the rest areas will restore full service for travelers. But the not-so-great news is that because we’re not funded for needed repairs, this unexpected work means other critical projects will be delayed or canceled to pay for them.

Crews make repairs to the lagoon-style septic system liner at the Selah rest area in July 2024.

 In September, crews began to pump water from the I-90 Sprague Rest Area lagoon to make necessary repairs. Additional repairs will continue through fall.

The rest areas are expected to resume full operations this fall.

How did we get here?

Before you write in all caps, ‘JUST TAKE CARE OF IT!’ – we hear you. Our rest area attendants and maintenance crews work hard within the budgets provided and take pride in their service. Think of it like a home. Many of these rest areas are over 50 years old. Little to no major renovation work has been done in their lifetime, because we don’t have funding for that. Like your home, if you didn’t do important maintenance for 50 years, you’d see the pipes burst or a roof fail.

Our maintenance and preservation budget has been underfunded for decades. This has resulted in a backlog of work needed to keep our transportation system operating fully. We do our best with the funding the Legislature gives us. We also continue to work with state leaders to communicate our needs and the risks of not doing necessary work.

We have taken steps to reduce costs and extend the life of our facilities. We’ve patched roofs (instead of replacing them) and completed minimal waterline maintenance (instead of repairing or replacing entire systems). But those short-term fixes only work for so long.

Some repairs can be done at minimal cost; others are more expensive. For example, the I-5 Silver Lake Safety Rest Area closed in late 2019.The failing roof posed safety concerns for staff and guests. The roof can’t be repaired again, so it requires a costly replacement. The site remains closed while we complete a truck parking study. The Legislature requested we do this study to see if we can expand available truck parking options. Even a plan to convert the Silver Lake location to solely truck parking and demolish the rest area entirely, though, would cost over $5 million. We do not have those resources. We expect to have results from the study in December 2024. Then we can work on preliminary decisions for the site.

Damage to the walls and roof at the Silver Lake rest area forced us to close the location for public safety.

Without more investments into rest areas, we’ll see more closures in the coming years. If we had the resources to make more substantial repairs or completely renovate a facility, we would. We hear from the public daily about their experience and feedback at our rest areas. We’ve worked to stretch our dollars as far as possible, but now all we can do is try to reduce the rate of deterioration.

Facility concerns foreshadowed in our strategic plan

In 2023, we updated our safety rest area strategic plan – the first major update since 2008 – to address these concerns and chart a future for the program.

We know the needs of travelers have changed over the years. That’s why we conducted public outreach to more than 5,300 people across the state when drafting the plan. The population has grown. More people are driving electric vehicles. ADA and other accommodations are needed to serve all travelers – including items like adding infant changing stations to men’s restrooms (yep, we see you fellas!).

The rest area plan does not call for adding or closing any existing locations, but it does highlight the ongoing needs to keep them working. 87 percent of our rest areas were rated as “critical condition” in 2021. More than half of the buildings will be 50 years or older by 2031. The study also identified $375-$525 million needed over the next fifteen years to upgrade or renovate these aging buildings.

We shared findings with the public and state lawmakers last fall. This new plan will be used to guide conversations with state leaders – who set our budget – going forward. With the price tag and many competing needs, though, there is no easy or overnight solution.

Taking care of what we have

The day-to-day operations of our rest areas continue even with these funding concerns. Many guests say our rest areas are their first impression when they visit. We work hard to make it a good one. Our rest area attendants work hard to restock and clean sites multiple times a day for 24 million visitors a year. Maintenance work often includes mowing, repairing picnic benches, litter removal, repainting or repairing broken restroom amenities.

A maintenance crew member mows the grass as part of maintenance at the I-5 Scatter Creek rest area in Thurston County.

What’s next?

We will continue to work with lawmakers who set our rest area budgets.

We know that rest areas conditions, safety and amenities are a real concern for people – we use them too. We will continue our “MacGyver” work to keep them running as best as possible with the resources we have. At some point, if we continue crafting one-of-a-kind repairs and not fully funding these needs, it may turn into a complete closure. No one wants that. Please be patient with us during emergency and unplanned closures. Know we’re working as fast as we can with the resources available.

If you have questions about how other states manage their rest area operations, funding or privatization, check out our 2023 safety rest area strategic plan for details.