PMAA’s Objectives
The Issue
Some state transportation departments are calling
on Congress to commercialize interstate rest areas, and President
Bush’s draft highway reauthorization plan would overturn the
commercialization ban, changing longstanding federal law. Rest area
commercialization would devastate communities across the nation by
threatening interchange businesses that serve the needs of the highway
traveler. Since Congress banned Interstate right-of-way development 47
years ago, we can see the wisdom of that decision to protect
communities. Over 60,000 businesses have sprung up at interchanges
across America, serving the needs of highway users and
providing jobs and taxes for counties, cities and towns.
A commercialized rest area will
sell fuel, food and other snack items to highway users from the
convenience of the Interstate right-of-way. An interchange business,
offering the highway traveler the same goods and services, cannot
compete with the state-controlled business that is so conveniently
located on the shoulder of the road.
Rest area commercialization
would close as many as half of nearby interstate interchange
businesses, such as travel plazas and
truckstops, restaurants, gas stations and motels, according to a study
just released by the University of Maryland. In addition, all future
private sector development at the interchanges would come to a
screeching halt. Businesses at the interchanges simply could not
compete with a state-sanctioned monopoly operating on the highway
shoulder.
Although some have suggested
that nearby interchange businesses would have the first option to
operate the commercialized facility, this offer ignores the investment
the business owner has already made. There is simply no way a PMAA
member could afford to walk away from their $8-12 million interchange
investment to become a tenant of the state for a fixed number of
years.
Commercialization of Interstate
rest areas would destroy the property tax base of local governments.
Quite simply, rest area commercialization replaces a property taxpayer
supporting local government with a lessee who only supports the state
transportation department. It is estimated that in 2002,
interchange businesses contributed over $1.5 billion in property taxes
to local governments, funds that are used for education, police and
fire protection.
Previous efforts to
commercialize Interstate rest areas have been strongly opposed by a
wide coalition of groups, representing
major chain restaurants, every facet of the oil industry from retailer
to refiner, and even the National Federation of the Blind.
PMAA members, like other owners
of highway service establishments, are entrepreneurs. In the American
tradition, they have invested capital and created businesses in
communities across the nation to serve the needs of highway travelers.
They compete each day with other businesses on a level playing field.
A commercialized rest area would quickly destroy that balance.
