WASHINGTON -- An effort to put food and gasoline on interstates is drawing fire from truck stops, gasoline stations and fast-food restaurants at interchanges with other highways, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Drivers on toll roads in the East can find fuel and food without getting off the highway. Throughout most of the rest of the country, federal law requires motorists in search of those items to leave the interstate. Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) (pictured) is pressing to change the law and create a pilot program of gasoline stations and fast-food restaurants on sections of interstates in California.
He is running into opposition though. NATSO, which represents more than 1,100 truckstops and travel centers, is lobbying against the proposal. It cites a University of Maryland study showing businesses at interchanges “would lose two-thirds of sales if they faced competition from ‘ultra-convenient’ rest areas.” Interstate rest areas are currently limited to bathrooms, picnic tables and vending machines.
Jim Caldwell, who recently spent $5.5 million on his Giant Truck Stops on Interstate 5 in Castaic, Calif., is one of those who oppose the measure. “It will be hard to compete against a state-picked business that would have a monopoly on favorable rates,” he says.
Lewis, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, is trying to put his proposal in the annual transportation spending legislation. The House and Senate each has passed a version of the bill.
