The prohibition allows only vending machines at the nation’s rest areas. (As a toll road dating to before the law went into effect, the Pike is one of the few exceptions.) The law was meant to protect local businesses at interchanges and to prevent the newly built interstate system from becoming cluttered with advertisements. Those once were worthy goals. But the result has been that rest stops have become forlorn and sometimes seedy. They fill a needed safety purpose, giving weary drivers a place to pull over, but they’re a drag on highway maintenance budgets.
Congress should replace the blanket ban with a flexible policy that balances aesthetic and competitive concerns with the need for new state revenues. For instance, lawmakers could allow commercial activities in isolated areas only, place limits on signage, cap the overall number of commercial rest stops, or maintain an outright ban along genuinely scenic stretches of interstate. States that don’t want to participate shouldn’t have to; they could also add their own regulations about the type of services provided. But expanding options along the highway would ultimately serve both state bottom lines and motorists, who currently lack convenient food and gas choices along vast stretches of interstate.
State officials in Massachusetts and elsewhere have begged Congress for years to relax the rules, to no avail. They’ve been thwarted by lobbying from truck-stop operators who don’t want any competition. But the dire financial straits of many states ought to convince Congress to take a harder look at the issue; the new federal long-term transportation bill due to be considered soon would be a good opportunity. If Congress is unwilling to provide states enough money to keep the highways in good shape, it should at least give states all the tools they need to meet those needs themselves.
