Driving across the country provides you with thinking time about issues that you normally wouldn’t dwell on. One of these involves rest areas.
I noticed when I entered Iowa that a “Welcome Center” greeted me that was more of the nature of something you’d find at the site of a Southern plantation than something you’d expect in Iowa with its “Fields of Opportunities.” It wasn’t open, but it really did look quite welcoming. The next rest area was not quite as extravagant, but it was one of the best I’ve seen, free Wi-Fi and skylights and all. It reminded me of the palaces that masquerade as rest areas in Ohio, also along Interstate 80. Yet, Interstate 80 also goes through Illinois, and Illinois has very low-key rest areas that aren’t going to impress anyone who’s looking to do anything more than just go to the bathroom. North Carolina also has state-of-the-art rest areas with forest trails and gift shops and everything, although it doesn’t have as many rest areas as these other states.
What’s the difference here? Illinois has 22 million people to Iowa’s 3 million and North Carolina’s 8 million. Illinois is one of the top tourist destinations in the US due to Chicago and the Lincoln historic sites around Springfield. It’s one of the richest and most prosperous states in these very rich and prosperous United States. So why doesn’t it invoke a better effort on providing nice rest areas that its citizens can feel proud of? Perhaps it’s such a tourist destination already that it doesn’t need to bribe possible tourists with free WiFi like Iowa does, or…
The main difference I can see among these particular case study states is that Illinois is a “blue state” and the others are “red states.” Perhaps Illinois in all its blue-state glory provides more “services” for its citizens, such as education, health care and the like, while these other red-oriented states don’t provide those services to much of an extent and can then spend their money on roads and rest areas to impress any potential visitors. I do know this for a fact: North Carolina has much better roads than almost any state I’ve seen, but perhaps I’m biased, because I always thought that roads would be like they were in Illinois everywhere. Returning to Illinois from a southern route a few days ago, I realized that Illinois has such bad roads and people have to notice this when they visit. Why doesn’t Illinois spend more money on its infrastructure? Is it really due to my blue state/red state theory, or does it have something more to do with the infighting in the Illinois General Assembly over whether Chicago will get more money for infrastructure or whether other parts of Illinois will get money? Is the end result of this instate infighting that no money gets allotted for southern Illinois’ roads?
I started discussing this with the friend who first introduced me to libertarian ideas, and he said:
“I’m a hardcore libertarian who doesn’t believe that the government should be involved in regulating anything to do with health, legislating pollution controls, or even providing police protection because private individuals could do this better. But I do like a nice rest area! It’s my right to go to the bathroom.”
Tags: Blue state red state, interstate rest areas, red state roads, blue state roads, Illinois blue state, Iowa red state, North Carolina red state
Something I noticed last year: North Carolina may have good roads (easy to do if you have little freeze/thaw damage), but it has abysmal road signage. Virginia has some of the best I’ve ever seen; I had no trouble finding my way through small towns on 2-lane roads at night in Virginia, but as soon as I crossed the border to NC I was flying blind.
Engineer-Poet
December 29th, 2007
That’s an interesting point about the weather helping North Carolina’s roads. That certainly could be a factor. From what I recall, South Carolina had terrible roads in comparison, but I believe they’re a much poorer state than NC.
I’ve only driven through Virginia maybe twice, but I’ll pay more attention to their roads next time! You notice them more when they’re bad than when they’re good.
I do agree that NC has terrible signage. Even in downtown Chapel Hill, the main street through the UNC campus (Columbia Street) doesn’t have street signs when crossing either Franklin or Rosemary. These are some of the busiest intersections in the town. It amazed me the first time I noticed this! I often see streets without signs, in not just Chapel Hill but Raleigh as well. It’s astounding.
libertariangirl
December 29th, 2007
Can’t venture an appraisal of SC’s roads because the only ones I’ve driven are Interstate highways; not exactly representative.
My recollection of NC doesn’t include any sign-less city intersections, but on the 2-lane roads outside of towns the tendency towards, er, economy was marked. Road shoulders weren’t all that wide either, though drivers did normally make way for bicyclists.
If I’m in Virginia again, I’ll have to take note of the road design as well as the condition. Much of what I drove that one well-signed night was twisty stuff up and down mountains (would have been MUCH more fun in daylight), and the design of such roads is usually different from your standard just-outside-the-municipality artery where far more vehicle-miles are driven. It gives you an idea of the priorities of the people in control of things.
Engineer-Poet
December 29th, 2007
I was just going by the interstates, and I haven’t seen that many out-of-the-way roads in Iowa and what they’re like.
libertariangirl
December 30th, 2007