That decision to skip the gas station just off the highway, in hopes of being able to hold it to the next rest stop, might need to be revised.
The Arizona Department of Transportation announced Thursday that it is temporarily closing 13 of 18 state-owned rest stops as part of a plan to shore up a projected $100 million shortfall in highway user funds.
Among the closures, which could begin as soon as Oct. 19:
• The Canoa Ranch rest area on Interstate 19 south of Green Valley
• The Sacaton rest area on Interstate 10 north of Casa Grande
• The San Simon rest area on I-10 near the Arizona-New Mexico border.
The Texas Canyon rest area, on I-10 between Benson and Willcox, is one of five rest stops that will remain open. Others staying open include ones on Interstate 8 between Casa Grande and Yuma and I-10 between Phoenix and the Arizona-California border.
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The closures are deemed temporary, said Linda Ritter, an Arizona Department of Transportation spokesman, with the state reviewing those closures after the 2009-2010 fiscal year ends in June.
Areas selected for closure were chosen based on several factors, Ritter said, including their distance to other facilities such as restrooms and overnight truck stops.
The Canoa rest area, Ritter said, is only 10 miles from Green Valley, while the San Simon rest area is just 20 miles west of a rest area in Lordsburg, N.M.
The most heavily affected area is Northern Arizona, where three of the four rest areas along Interstate 40 are slated to be closed. Only the Painted Cliffs rest area, just west of the Arizona-New Mexico border, is scheduled to remain open.
The rest area closures are part of a "budget road map" the Arizona Department of Transportation has put together to brace for the transfer of $530 million in transportation funding to help address the state budget shortfall, said Bill Pederson, an ADOT spokesman.
Other planned reductions include:
• Elimination of Saturday hours at four Motor Vehicle Division locations, including Tucson's South Broadmont Drive office effective Nov. 7. The Broadmont office is located near East Ajo Way and South Palo Verde Road.
• The state also plans to close 12 of the state's 61 MVD field offices, a plan needing approval from the Department of Justice due to motor-voter registrations laws. That process could take up to three months.
• Limiting snow removal at Grand Canyon Airport to daylight hours only.
• Possible layoffs, which would come above the approximately 450 positions the state agency has lost through attrition since a hiring freeze was put in place in February 2008.
