TW: This falls into the category of learn something new everyday, have been riding the interstate system for decades without realizing the restrictions on development along the roads. But then when one thinks about it, what the article says makes sense given what one sees on the roads.
Personally I have no problem with this particular privatization, old legacy laws dating back almost 50 years tend to have lost their relevance but unsurprisingly are slow to change. Not surprisingly those with existing facilities including alleged bastions of rapacious capitalism (my word of the week) like McDonalds and KFC are opposing the measure (existing vendors like restricting competition whenever possible). The irony of Mickey D's seeking to "prevent commercialization" is amusing.
From Chicago Tribune:
"Which will it be: fewer places to stop on the highway to catch 40 winks, or fast-food galore at rest areas? That's the choice facing Congress as it considers whether to relax a decades-old ban on businesses along the nation's interstate highways.
The restriction was instituted during construction of the highway system, in response to community fears that motorists would bypass local businesses and devastate their economies. Only enterprises that existed before 1960 were exempt.
But now officials in Virginia, one of a number of financially strapped states closing rest areas, want to privatize the sites to maintain an important public convenience -- and maybe even make money.
The Partnership to Save Highway Communities, whose members include the Association of Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchisees, the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America and McDonald's Corp., has opposed Virginia's efforts. It would "set a dangerous precedent," the group said, "with any state experiencing budget shortfalls seeing commercialization as a potential solution..."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-tc-nw-reststop-0831-0901sep01,0,2059180.story
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