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Interstate 5 rest areas close north of Seattle due to trash
The Associated Press ^ | October 16, 2021

Posted on 10/16/2021 7:07:13 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington State Department of Transportation has closed five rest areas north of Seattle along Interstate 5 because of excessive trash, vandalism and a staffing shortage.

Rest areas closed Friday in both directions at Smokey Point between Marysville and Arlington and both directions at Custer, north of Bellingham, The Seattle Times reported.

“We’ve seen broken toilets, broken sinks and stalls,” agency spokesperson Bart Treece, who noted maintenance crew members work in pairs for safety now, said. “Some people extend their stays and leave trash.”

The southbound Silver Lake rest area in South Everett, which was already closed, will remain shut.

The closures will last at least three months and will be reevaluated in 2022, the agency said.

Normally, four full-time workers maintain the Smokey Point and South Everett rest areas, but there’s only one employed there, Treece said. That’s part of a 32-person shortage in maintenance workers in northwest Washington, caused in part when fears of recession led to a hiring freeze early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: crime; seattle; thirdworld
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1 posted on 10/16/2021 7:07:13 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

We know how to stop this.


2 posted on 10/16/2021 7:09:14 AM PDT by dljordan (Slouching towards Woketopia)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Suck it Seattle.


3 posted on 10/16/2021 7:09:16 AM PDT by The Louiswu (Peace to you and may God Bless you.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

, caused in part when fears of recession led to a hiring freeze early in the COVID-19 pandemic.


So a govt agency fears a recession?


4 posted on 10/16/2021 7:10:30 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

If only Wash. would turn them into
Islamic Shrines.


5 posted on 10/16/2021 7:11:53 AM PDT by Paladin2 (Critical Marx Theory is The SOLUTION....)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Some people extend their stays...

LOL...another euphemism for BUMS. It looks like the franchise is expanding...


6 posted on 10/16/2021 7:12:21 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“Everything Woke turns to shit.” ~ President Donald Trump)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Trash = Democrats ?


7 posted on 10/16/2021 7:16:38 AM PDT by butlerweave
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

If you have to go to the bathroom, stop in Olympia and go there.


8 posted on 10/16/2021 7:17:42 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The future is now. The people that run the state are clueless as to the causes of this, this it will simply increase.

Everyday I see a piece that illustrates the prescience of Kurt Schlichter’s novel People’s Republic.


9 posted on 10/16/2021 7:18:12 AM PDT by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s.....you weren't really there..)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
That’s part of a 32-person shortage in maintenance workers in northwest Washington, caused in part when fears of recession led to a hiring freeze early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

What's the other part? Firing unvaccinated maintenance workers?

10 posted on 10/16/2021 7:18:44 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (China is like the Third Reich. We are Mussolini's Italy. A weaker, Jr partner, good at losing wars.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Thee rest areas had become homeless camps full of broken RVs.

These are all parked in the semi truck parking areas - as a trucker my fuel taxes go to supporting areas like this, and it has really pissed me off to not be able to find a spot to park to use the bathrooms since all the parking spots were taken by homeless.


11 posted on 10/16/2021 7:24:06 AM PDT by datura (The voice that brought you peace has nothing left to say.)
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To: dljordan

ANIMALS!


12 posted on 10/16/2021 7:25:20 AM PDT by Don Corleone (leave the gun, take the canolis)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

It’s a shame to see how the entire West coast has changed over the decades. I was born in Oregon and have family and friends in California, Oregon and Washington. When I was much younger we used to travel back that way on vacations. That whole area was some of the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen and the folks there were some of the finest. It’s amazing how things have changed, while still beautiful it’s turned very ugly on the inside. All it takes is few Urban anthills to destroy great states. Texas is hanging in there but I don’t know for how long, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso and Austin just keep growing and exspanding.


13 posted on 10/16/2021 7:28:00 AM PDT by Dusty Road (")
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

In the state of NY, most of the service areas along out interstates suck.

They are filthy, poorly maintained...

And yet there was money for mask nazis to ensure nobody set foot in one unmuzzled.


14 posted on 10/16/2021 7:30:42 AM PDT by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

We had a travel crazy late summer this year. A bit over 5,000 miles with events in Daytona Beach Florida, Gibson Island Maryland, and Atlanta Georgia back and forth from our home in Detroit Michigan. Who ever invented the rest stop deserves a thumbs up.


15 posted on 10/16/2021 7:32:27 AM PDT by WhoisAlanGreenspan?
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I was in that area about a month ago. Did not stop at any but seemed nice enough from the road. Good many homeless camps in the area but maybe not as bad as Austin TX. FWIW Texas has good rest areas just not enough but in part of the state there is Buckees for clean bathrooms. Florida seems to have good ones spaced well. Oklahoma turnpike ones are not bad.


16 posted on 10/16/2021 7:32:52 AM PDT by nomorelurker
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Does our gay, ‘Sexretary of Transporation’ know about this? I mean, where can the gays hook-up now if the public toilets are shut down? We haven’t heard one PEEP from Buttplug on ANYTHING - but I’ll bet he’ll get right on this problem!

*Rolleyes* Socialist Democrats destroy everything they touch...even public toilets! (Ick!)


17 posted on 10/16/2021 7:36:50 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: mewzilla; datura
I can speak to this with some credibility, as I've worked with state DOTs on rest area rehabilitation projects over the years. There are two major issues at work here:

1. Rest areas simply aren't part of a DOTs core responsibilities ... and with so many other pressing needs, these rest areas are the last places a DOT wants to spend money. Any DOT that comes up with $1 in extra highway funding is going to allocate all of it to bridge and pavement projects.

2. Federal law prohibits retail sales and services at rest areas on the Interstate Highway System, with the exception of vending machines whose revenues are allocated to certain charitable organizations. This limits opportunities for a DOT to get additional revenues to maintain these rest areas. The restriction is based on a law passed in 1959 to protect the truck stop industry. The only exceptions to this restriction are those toll roads where such full-service rest facilities existed before the law was passed in 1959. That's why you typically find that service areas on the New Jersey Turnpike, New York State Thruway, Pennsylvania Turnpike, etc. have a lot of amenities for travelers and are usually in much better condition than your typical highway rest areas.

18 posted on 10/16/2021 7:53:04 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("All lies and jest, ‘til a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.")
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antifa blocking the roads again, eh?


19 posted on 10/16/2021 7:54:38 AM PDT by dsrtsage ( Complexity is just simple lacking imaginationd)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I have a part-time job in the area.

I drive by these rest areas all the time. There have been MANY old motor homes and trailers parked in these rest areas for WEEKS at a time. It is obvious people have set up permanent camp in them. You see disconnected trailers, people doing maintenance on their vehicles and a general atmosphere of a homeless RV’rs campground.

This is part of a much larger issue of homelessness in Washington state. These are NOT week-end travelers.

Beyond this localized problem, it is common to see such RV’s parked in turn-outs on side roads and highways.

These people are living wherever they can find a wide spot to park.


20 posted on 10/16/2021 8:03:18 AM PDT by Gnome1949
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