[SandRat]

[BARLF]

IMHO,waste of taxpayer money.

[Tupelo]

While passing the closed rest area near Casa Grande last week, I remarked to my wife that there should be some way for rest areas to be leased by a private company and operated at a profit. Free to pee, but snacks, maps and “stuff” for a fee.
I don't have the know how to do it but I would sure like to invest in the company that figures it out.

[Alberta's Child]

That's common in the East, where the highways predate a 1956 change in federal law that precludes new commercial operations in rest areas along roads built with federal money.

This article is a bit misleading. The roads "in the East" where these commercial operations are permitted are those that were built BEFORE the establishment of the Interstate Highway System and were later given interstate designations by the U.S. government. Almost all of the roads that fit this description (e.g., the New Jersey Turnpike, Pennsylvania Turnpike, New York State Thruway) are toll roads -- of which Arizona also has none.