Source: INDOT / INDOT
STATEWIDE — INDOT is about to throw a lot of money at a statewide overhaul of several rest areas stationed along busy interstates.
The department has allocated around $600 million for the project which is already underway at two rest areas. The Clear Creek rest area along I-70 near Terre Haute has been closed since June. One goal is to use $53.5 million to reopen and revamp that rest area and they are getting creative with it.
“The Clear Creek Welcome Center will be kind of racing-inspired,” said INDOT spokesperson Natalie Garrett on WISH-TV. “There will be an exhibit related to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.”
The Black River Welcome Center in Posey County along I-64 is another rest area already being worked on. Garrett said that one will have a theme related to Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home, which will cost around $39.9 million to overhaul.
The project is not all about aesthetics though. Garrett said one of the key pillars of the project is safety for drivers, especially truck drivers.
“They are held to certain requirements that they have to stop every so often. Hour limitations,” Garrett said. “Also giving them a place to stop, rest, and recharge.”
She said the rest areas will soon after free showers and private restrooms specifically for truckers.
Both the north and southbound truck parking facilities in Lebanon and the Clear Creek and Black River welcome centers closed in June of this year, but the reopening date hasn’t been set.
The Kankakee southbound welcome center and northbound truck parking facility will reopen this fall.
